Andrea Benassi

Superlubricity of graphene nanoribbons on gold surfaces.

A golden opportunity for graphene Reducing friction can limit wear and improve the energy efficiency of mechanical devices. Graphene is a promising lubricant because the friction between sheets is minuscule under certain circumstances. Kawai et al. show that the same ultra-low frictional properties extend to other surfaces. They find ultralow friction when dragging graphene nanoribbons across a gold surface using an atomic force microscope. This discovery sets up the potential for developing nanographene frictionless coatings. Science, this issue p. 957 Experiments reveal ultralow friction when graphene nanoribbons slide across an oriented gold surface. The state of vanishing friction known as superlubricity has important applications for energy saving and increasing the lifetime of devices. Superlubricity, as detected with atomic force microscopy, appears when sliding large graphite flakes or gold nanoclusters across surfaces, for example. However, the origin of the behavior is poorly understood because of the lack of a controllable nanocontact. We demonstrated the superlubricity of graphene nanoribbons when sliding on gold with a joint experimental and computational approach. The atomically well-defined contact allows us to trace the origin of superlubricity, unraveling the role played by ribbon size and elasticity, as well as by surface reconstruction. Our results pave the way to the scale-up of superlubricity and thus to the realization of frictionless coatings.

Nanofriction in cold ion traps

Sliding friction between crystal lattices and the physics of cold ion traps are so far non-overlapping fields. Two sliding lattices may either stick and show static friction or slip with dynamic friction; cold ions are known to form static chains, helices or clusters, depending on the trapping conditions. Here we show, based on simulations, that much could be learnt about friction by sliding, through, for example, an electric field, the trapped ion chains over a corrugated potential. Unlike infinite chains, in which the theoretically predicted Aubry transition to free sliding may take place, trapped chains are always pinned. Yet, a properly defined static friction still vanishes Aubry-like at a symmetric-asymmetric structural transition, found for decreasing corrugation in both straight and zig-zag trapped chains. Dynamic friction is also accessible in ringdown oscillations of the ion trap. Long theorized static and dynamic one-dimensional friction phenomena could thus become accessible in future cold ion tribology.

Critical length limiting superlow friction.

Since the demonstration of superlow friction (superlubricity) in graphite at nanoscale, one of the main challenges in the field of nano- and micromechanics was to scale this phenomenon up. A key question to be addressed is to what extent superlubricity could persist, and what mechanisms could lead to its failure. Here, using an edge-driven Frenkel-Kontorova model, we establish a connection between the critical length above which superlubricity disappears and both intrinsic material properties and experimental parameters. A striking boost in dissipated energy with chain length emerges abruptly due to a high-friction stick-slip mechanism caused by deformation of the slider leading to a local commensuration with the substrate lattice. We derived a parameter-free analytical model for the critical length that is in excellent agreement with our numerical simulations. Our results provide a new perspective on friction and nanomanipulation and can serve as a theoretical basis for designing nanodevices with superlow friction, such as carbon nanotubes.

Squeezout phenomena and boundary layer formation of a model ionic liquid under confinement and charging

Electrical charging of parallel plates confining a model ionic liquid down to nanoscale distances yields a variety of charge-induced changes in the structural features of the confined film. That includes even-odd switching of the structural layering and charging-induced solidification and melting, with important changes of local ordering between and within layers, and of squeezout behavior. By means of molecular dynamics simulations, we explore this variety of phenomena in the simplest charged Lennard-Jones coarse-grained model including or excluding the effect a neutral tail giving an anisotropic shape to one of the model ions. Using these models and open conditions permitting the flow of ions in and out of the interplate gap, we simulate the liquid squeezout to obtain the distance dependent structure and forces between the plates during their adiabatic approach under load. Simulations at fixed applied force illustrate an effective electrical pumping of the ionic liquid, from a thick nearly solid film that withstands the interplate pressure for high plate charge to complete squeezout following melting near zero charge. Effective enthalpy curves obtained by integration of interplate forces versus distance show the local minima that correspond to layering and predict the switching between one minimum and another under squeezing and charging.

Electrical charging effects on the sliding friction of a model nano-confined ionic liquid

Recent measurements suggest the possibility to exploit ionic liquids (ILs) as smart lubricants for nano-contacts, tuning their tribological and rheological properties by charging the sliding interfaces. Following our earlier theoretical study of charging effects on nanoscale confinement and squeezout of a model IL, we present here molecular dynamics simulations of the frictional and lubrication properties of that model under charging conditions. First, we describe the case when two equally charged plates slide while being held together to a confinement distance of a few molecular layers. The shear sliding stress is found to rise strongly and discontinuously as the number of IL layers decreases stepwise. However, the shear stress shows, within each given number of layers, only a weak dependence upon the precise value of the normal load, a result in agreement with data extracted from recent experiments. We subsequently describe the case of opposite charging of the sliding plates and follow the shear stress when the charging is slowly and adiabatically reversed in the course of time, under fixed load. Despite the fixed load, the number and structure of the confined IL layers change with changing charge, and that in turn drives strong friction variations. The latter involves first of all charging-induced freezing of the IL film, followed by a discharging-induced melting, both made possible by the nanoscale confinement. Another mechanism for charging-induced frictional changes is a shift of the plane of maximum shear from mid-film to the plate-film interface, and vice versa. While these occurrences and results invariably depend upon the parameters of the model IL and upon its specific interaction with the plates, the present study helps identifying a variety of possible behavior, obtained under very simple assumptions, while connecting it to an underlying equilibrium thermodynamics picture.

Barkhausen instabilities from labyrinthine magnetic domains

Experimental investigations of the scaling behavior of Barkhausen avalanches in out-of-plane ferromagnetic films yield widely different results for the values of the critical exponents despite similar labyrinthine domain structures, suggesting that universality may not hold for this class of materials. Analyzing a phase field model for magnetic reversal, we show that avalanche scaling is bounded by characteristic lengthscales arising from the competition between dipolar forces and exchange interactions. We compare our results with the experiments and find a good qualitative and quantitative agreement, reconciling apparent contradictions. Finally, we make some prediction, amenable to experimental verification, on the dependence of the avalanches behavior from the film thickness and disorder.

Sliding Over a Phase Transition

The effects of a displacive structural phase transition on sliding friction are in principle accessible to nanoscale tools such as atomic force microscopy, yet they are still surprisingly unexplored. We present model simulations demonstrating and clarifying the mechanism and potential impact of these effects. A structural order parameter inside the material will yield a contribution to stick-slip friction that is nonmonotonic as temperature crosses the phase transition, peaking at the critical T(c) where critical fluctuations are strongest, and the sliding-induced order-parameter local flips from one value to another more numerous. Accordingly, the friction below T(c) is larger when the order-parameter orientation is such that flips are more effectively triggered by the slider. The observability of these effects and their use for friction control are discussed, for future application to sliding on the surface of and ferro- or antiferrodistortive materials.

The breakdown of superlubricity by driving-induced commensurate dislocations.

In the framework of a Frenkel-Kontorova-like model, we address the robustness of the superlubricity phenomenon in an edge-driven system at large scales, highlighting the dynamical mechanisms leading to its failure due to the slider elasticity. The results of the numerical simulations perfectly match the length critical size derived from a parameter-free analytical model. By considering different driving and commensurability interface configurations, we explore the distinctive nature of the transition from superlubric to high-friction sliding states which occurs above the critical size, discovering the occurrence of previously undetected multiple dissipative jumps in the friction force as a function of the slider length. These driving-induced commensurate dislocations in the slider are then characterized in relation to their spatial localization and width, depending on the system parameters. Setting the ground to scale superlubricity up, this investigation provides a novel perspective on friction and nanomanipulation experiments and can serve as a theoretical basis for designing high-tech devices with specific superlow frictional features.

Parameter-free dissipation in simulated sliding friction

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, of crucial importance in sliding friction, are hampered by arbitrariness and uncertainties in the way Joule heat is removed. We implement in a realistic frictional simulation a parameter-free, non-markovian, stochastic dynamics, which, as expected from theory, absorbs Joule heat precisely as a semi-infinite harmonic substrate would. Simulating stick-slip friction of a slider over a 2D Lennard-Jones solid, we compare our virtually exact frictional results with approximate ones from commonly adopted empirical dissipation schemes. While the latter are generally in serious error, we show that the exact results can be closely reproduced by a viscous Langevin dissipation at the boundary layer, once the back-reflected frictional energy is variationally optimized.

Optimal Energy Dissipation in Sliding Friction Simulations

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, of crucial importance in sliding friction, are hampered by arbitrariness and uncertainties in the removal of the frictionally generated Joule heat. Building upon general pre-existing formulation, we implement a fully microscopic dissipation approach which, based on a parameter-free, non-Markovian, stochastic dynamics, absorbs Joule heat equivalently to a semi-infinite solid, and harmonic substrate. As a test case, we investigate the stick–slip friction of a slider over a two-dimensional Lennard-Jones solid, comparing our virtually exact frictional results with approximate ones from commonly adopted dissipation schemes. Remarkably, the exact results can be closely reproduced by a standard Langevin dissipation scheme, once its parameters are determined according to a general and self-standing variational procedure.