Control of friction at the nanoscale

We propose a new algorithm to control frictional dynamics of a small array of particles towards preassigned values of the average sliding velocity. The control is based on the concepts of non-Lipschitzian dynamics and terminal attractor. Extensive numerical simulations illustrate the robustness, efficiency, and convenience of the algorithm.     

石墨烯层间纳米摩擦性质的第一性原理研究

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算方法研究了纳米尺度下石墨烯层间摩擦现象, 探讨了对称和非对称两种情况下双层石墨烯层间沿不同方向的摩擦性质. 研究发现对于对称的双层石墨烯, 层间摩擦沿不同方向同性; 摩擦因数依赖于正压力, 随正压力增大, 摩擦因数的变化曲线分为三个阶段, 在较小以及较大压力下, 摩擦因数遵循Amonton法则不随压力变化而变化; 而在中间3-6 nN阶段, 摩擦因数随压力增加线性增加. 整个研究压力范围内摩擦因数在0.05-0.25之间. 对于非对称性双层石墨烯层间摩擦, 不同压力下摩擦因数在0.006上下波动, 摩擦因数较两层对称性石墨烯大大降低. 上述研究结果与实验一致.     

Vibrational cavitation at interfaces between solid and liquid metals

The author demonstrates the existence of cavitation bubbles in liquid zinc and establishes a relationship between the intensity of cavitation and the vibration of the cavitation bubbles.     

Gigantic maximum of nanoscale noncontact friction

We report measurements of noncontact friction between surfaces of NbSe2 and SrTiO3 and a sharp Pt-Ir tip that is oscillated laterally by a quartz tuning fork cantilever. At 4.2 K, the friction coefficients on both the metallic and insulating materials show a giant maximum at the tip-surface distance of several nanometers. The maximum is strongly correlated with an increase in the spring constant of the cantilever. These features can be understood phenomenologically by a distance-dependent relaxation mechanism with distributed time scales.     

Stick-slip friction and energy dissipation in boundary lubrication

Shearing of a simple nonpolar film, right after the liquid-to-solid phase transition under nanometer confinement, is studied by using a liquid-vapor molecular dynamics simulation method. We find that, in contrast with the shear melting and recrystallization behavior of the solidlike phase during the stick-slip motion, interlayer slips within the film and wall slips at the wall-film interface are often observed. The ordered solidified film is well maintained during the slip. Through the time variations of the frictional force and potential energy change within the film, we find that both the friction dissipation during the slip and the potential energy decay after the slip in the solidified film take a fairly large portion of the total energy dissipation.     

Influence of velocity in nanoscale friction processes

Force-microscopy images of boric acid crystals were obtained experimentally and simulated with the use of a two-dimensional mechanical model. An analysis of the stick and slip movement of the microscope tip shows that the energy-dissipation mechanism is strongly influenced by the non-linear dynamics of the sliding system. The contributions of stick and viscous forces on the energy dissipation (or friction forces) are studied as a function of the relative scanning velocity. At low relative velocities, the stick forces are shown to be responsible for the energy dissipation. This energy is velocity-dependent, due to the coupling between the two degrees of freedom of the sliding system. As the scanning velocity increases the stick forces are damped; the viscous force is then predominant in the energy-dissipation process. Received: 30 October 2001 / Accepted: 17 May 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +55-21/2295-9397, E-mail: prioli@vdg.fis.puc-rio.br     

Spreading and two-dimensional mobility of long-chain alkanes at solid/gas interfaces

Long-chain n alkanes on solid surfaces can form partially wetting liquid alkane droplets coexisting with solid multilayer terraces. We propose a diffusivelike alkane flow between terrace edge and droplet perimeter through a molecularly thin "precursorlike" film. Depending on the (uniform!) sample temperature, either droplet or terrace edge are not in thermodynamic equilibrium. This leads to a chemical potential gradient, which drives the reversible alkane flow. The gradient can be adjusted and calculated independently from the phenomenological diffusion coefficient.     

Charge transfer via interfaces, especially of nanoscale materials

Received: 27 March 1998     

First-principles thermodynamics of coherent interfaces in samarium-doped ceria nanoscale superlattices

Nanoscale superlattices of samarium-doped ceria layers with varying doping levels have been recently proposed as a novel fuel cell electrolyte. We calculate the equilibrium composition profile across the coherent {100} interfaces present in this system using lattice-gas Monte Carlo simulations with long-range interactions determined from electrostatics and short-range interactions obtained from ab initio calculations. These simulations reveal the formation of a diffuse, nonmonotonic, and surprisingly wide (11 nm at 400 K) interface composition profile, despite the absence of space charge regions.     

Theoretical study of adhesion at the metal-zirconium dioxide interfaces

The atomic and electronic structure of the interfaces between metals with body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) structures and zirconium dioxide is studied systematically using the ab initio methods of the electron density functional theory (DFT). It is shown that high adhesion properties can be attained at the nonstoichiometric polar Me(001)/ZrO₂(001) interface with bcc metals from the middle of the 4d–5d periods (Mo, Ta, W, and Nb). Charge transfer from the metal to the oxide substrate ensures the strong ionic chemical bond on the metal-ceramic interfaces. The structural and electronic factors responsible for lowering of adhesion at differently oriented interfaces are analyzed. It is shown that a decrease of adhesion at the (110) nonpolar stoichiometric interface is due to an increase in the interfacial spacing as well as a decrease in the number of metal-oxygen bonds. The effect of doping with oxides (CaO, MgO, and Y₂O₃) stabilizing zirconium dioxide at low temperatures on the adhesion energy at the Me(001)/ZrO₂(001) interface is analyzed.     

有限入射声束在液固界面声反射的数值研究

采用将有限声束分解为一系列平面波的方法，对液固界面声束的声反射问题进行了数值研究，结果表明，当声束入射角为瑞利疲激角时，反射声速有明显位移；当声束在液固界面“掠射”时，反射声速显著变宽，文中还讨论了束宽对反射声速横截面上声场分布的影响。     

A finite element model for laser-induced leaky waves at fluid–solid interfaces

The finite element method is firstly used to simulate the laser-induced leaky waves at fluid–solid interfaces. Corresponding models and arithmetic are developed, in that the fluid–solid interactions are described by a coupling matrix and the infinite boundary of fluid domain is modeled by acoustic absorption elements. Typical calculations are executed for air–aluminum plane and cylindrical interfaces. The results are in very good agreements with the experimental signals in available literatures, which verify the correctness of our finite element model for simulating laser-induced leaky wave at fluid–solid interfaces. And some elementary conclusions are obtained for the laser induced leaky waves.     

Micro- to nanoscale surface morphology and friction response of tribological polyimide surfaces

Sintered polyimide surfaces that were worn under macroscale conditions at different temperatures, were further characterised by contact-mode atomic force microscopy for getting insight in the tribophysical and -chemical processes at the micro- to nanoscale. Depending on the temperature, either mechanical interaction (23 °C < T < 100 °C), hydrolysis (120 °C < T < 140 °C), or imidisation (180 °C < T < 260 °C) results in different microscale surface characteristics. At low temperatures, surface brittleness and inter-grain fracture has been observed with an almost homogeneous friction pattern. At intermediate temperatures, the formation of a protecting local film leads to smoother surfaces with local lubricating properties. At high temperatures, different topographical and frictional patterns are observed depending on local imidisation or degradation. From AFM scans at the sub-micronscale, local debris depositions are observed and correspond to surface locations with locally reduced friction. From AFM scans at the nanoscale, polymer chain orientation is observed with formation of zig-zag or stretched molecular conformation: the latter is not induced by purely mechanical surface interactions or hydrolysis, but mainly results from tribochemically induced imidisation at high sliding temperatures. The present investigation describes the influences of local tribological interactions onto the macroscale wear behaviour of a polymer, and therefore aims at contributing to a better understanding of scaling between macro- to nanolevel tribological response.     

Effect of non-uniform reaction rates at solid–oxide interfaces on the electrochemical impedance

An impedance model is developed for a porous oxygen electrode on top of a solid oxide conductor, taking into account adsorption and surface transport along the pore walls, interfacial diffusion and reaction along the interface, as well as current distribution (2D) in the electrolyte. All parameters are in principal measurable. Simulated impedance spectra typically exhibit two semicircles, one related to the charge transfer reaction at the interface (high frequencies), and one related to mass transfer limitations (low frequencies). The resolution of these two semicircles, however, depend on the relative contributions of these two processes to the overall potential losses, and the magnitude of the interfacial capacitance relative to the other kinetic and transport parameters, as well as geometrical parameters.     

Interactions between glycine and amorphous solid water nanoscale films

The interactions of glycine (Gly) with amorphous solid water (ASW) nanolayers (≤ 100 ML), vapor-deposited on single crystalline AlO_x surfaces at 100 K, have been investigated by near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) at the oxygen K-edge, temperature-programmed thermal desorption (TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and temperature-dependent work function measurements. Gly-on-ASW, ASW-on-Gly, and Gly on top of ASW-on-Gly ultrathin films have been fabricated. In contrast to the uniform ASW films grown directly on the hydrophilic AlO_x, water molecules adsorb on the hydrophobic Gly films in the form of 3D ASW clusters. This leads to significant differences in the NEXAFS and work function data obtained from ASW-on-AlO_x and ASW-on-Gly films, respectively. Furthermore, these structural differences influence the chemical state of Gly molecules (neutral vs. zwitterionic) adsorbed on top of ASW films. N1s XPS measurements revealed an increased amount of neutral Gly molecules in the film top-deposited on the ASW-on-Gly structure in comparison to the neutral Gly in the films directly condensed on AlO_x or grown on the ASW substrate. H₂O TPD spectra demonstrate that the crystallization and desorption processes of ASW are affected in a different way by the Gly layers, top-deposited on to ASW-on-AlO_x and ASW-on-Gly films. At the same time, Gly adlayers sink into the ASW film during crystallization/desorption of the latter and land softly on the alumina surface in the form of zwitterionic clusters.