Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;8(12):912-6.
doi: 10.1038/nnano.2013.217. Epub 2013 Nov 3.

Superlubricity in centimetres-long double-walled carbon nanotubes under ambient conditions

Affiliations

Superlubricity in centimetres-long double-walled carbon nanotubes under ambient conditions

Rufan Zhang et al. Nat Nanotechnol. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Friction and wear are two main causes of mechanical energy dissipation and component failure, especially in micro/nanomechanical systems with large surface-to-volume ratios. In the past decade there has been an increasing level of research interest regarding superlubricity, a phenomenon, also called structural superlubricity, in which friction almost vanishes between two incommensurate solid surfaces. However, all experimental structural superlubricity has been obtained on the microscale or nanoscale, and predominantly under high vacuum. Here, we show that superlubricity can be realized in centimetres-long double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) under ambient conditions. Centimetres-long inner shells can be pulled out continuously from such nanotubes, with an intershell friction lower than 1 nN that is independent of nanotube length. The shear strength of the DWCNTs is only several pascals, four orders of magnitude lower than the lowest reported value in CNTs and graphite. The perfect structure of the ultralong DWCNTs used in our experiments is essential for macroscale superlubricity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Science. 2000 Jan 28;287(5453):637-40 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 Oct 4;102(40):14155-8 - PubMed
    1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Feb 24;106(8):2506-9 - PubMed
    1. Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Jan 28;88(4):045503 - PubMed
    1. Phys Rev Lett. 1991 Nov 4;67(19):2642-2645 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources