Stable graphene oxide-based lyotropic liquid crystals for interfacial lubrication

Yumei GUO; Hanglin LI; Jiusheng LI; Xiangqiong ZENG

doi:10.1007/s40544-023-0813-z

Friction 2024, 12(5): 954-967 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0813-z

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Open Access | Issue | Published: 12 January 2024

Stable graphene oxide-based lyotropic liquid crystals for interfacial lubrication

Show Author's Information Hide Author's Information Yumei GUO^{¹^,²}, Hanglin LI^¹, Jiusheng LI^¹, Xiangqiong ZENG^¹(

)

1 Laboratory for Advanced Lubricating Materials, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China

2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Keywords:

tribological behavior, aqueous lubrication, graphene oxide, lyotropic liquid crystal

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GUO Y, LI H, LI J, et al. Stable graphene oxide-based lyotropic liquid crystals for interfacial lubrication. Friction, 2024, 12(5): 954-967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0813-z

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Abstract Full text About this article

Abstract

Lyotropic liquid crystals have lubricating properties due to their ordered assembly and fluidity, whose mesogens are often characterized by amphiphilic properties. Despite the attention that graphene oxide (GO) has been studied as a novel amphiphilic lyotropic mesogen this decade, and GO applied as a lubrication additive has been demonstrated in both oil and water-based systems, little research reveals the interfacial lubrication of GO liquid crystals yet. This work reports that GO aqueous dispersion can form lyotropic liquid crystals above a specific critical concentration of 5.00 mg/mL, providing a form of stable water-based lubricant, which can keep stable for several months and can reduce friction by 37.3% and wear by 25.24%. The liquid crystal phase was verified by polarizing microscope and synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering, and its rheological properties and viscoelasticity were studied by interfacial rheometer. The formation of lyotropic liquid crystals can enhance the stability of GO aqueous dispersions at high density, simultaneously ensuring friction decrease and anti-wear effect. It is attributed to the stable nematic network by the ordered GO sheets. The ordered assembly structure bears vertical shear force, therefore, reducing the wear. It is also assumed that the wide lateral size of graphene oxide promotes the nematic phase thus smoothes the graphene oxide film composed spontaneously under the coincidence of lamellar liquid crystal and 2D layered material. Through this work, the interlayer lubrication of GO was optimized, and the problem of GO dispersion sedimentation was solved by self-assembly. The range of interfacial lubrication of GO aqueous dispersion has been expanded and the synergistic effect is conducive to the environmentally friendly lubricants.

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Stable graphene oxide-based lyotropic liquid crystals for interfacial lubrication

Show Author's information Hide Author's Information Yumei GUO^{¹^,²}, Hanglin LI^¹, Jiusheng LI^¹, Xiangqiong ZENG^¹(

)

1 Laboratory for Advanced Lubricating Materials, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China

2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Abstract

Keywords: tribological behavior, aqueous lubrication, graphene oxide, lyotropic liquid crystal

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Acknowledgements

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Publication history

Received: 17 April 2023

Revised: 05 July 2023

Accepted: 02 August 2023

Published: 12 January 2024

Issue date: May 2024

Copyright

Acknowledgements

We thank the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB 0470000) , the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences project for Grand Challenges (No. 307GJHZ2022034GC) and the Science and Technology Development Fund of the Pudong New District (No. PKJ2020-N007) for the financial support, and the BL19U2 and BL01B beamlines of the National Facility for Protein Science in Shanghai (NFPS) at Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, for the support in the SAXS, WAXS, and synchrotron infrared micro-spectroscopy measurements (No. 2020-NFPS-PT-004482, h21pr0002).

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