Boosting lubrication and wear resistance by alkyl chain-dominated network design for balanced confinement effect in supramolecular gels

Supramolecular gelators can confine lubricating oils into gels and anchor them to the substrates, reducing friction and wear in mechanical engineering. However, excessive gel network confinement traps lubricants within gel clusters, hindering lubricant release, whereas the insufficient confinement is detrimental to a stable lubricating film formation in lubricant–gel–substrate anchoring system, both increasing friction and wear. Current strategies based on gelator polar groups design, simultaneously enhancing or weakening the confinement effect, are impractical for balancing this contradiction. To address this, we developed a carboxyl-based strong anchoring gelator and tailored the gel’s self-assembled network structure by adjusting alkyl chain effect, thereby effectively balancing the network confinement, inhibiting lubricant cluster formation, and reducing energy dissipation. Under friction, this design enables stronger lubricant anchoring at the substrate, forming a dual-confinement protective film that in-situ reduces the coefficient of friction (72%) and wear volume (94%). Compared with reported systems and commercial products, our gelator exhibited the highest friction-reducing and anti-wear performance. This research opens new perspectives in designing supramolecular lubricant confinement networks for achieving high-performance lubrication systems.