title: Super-low friction and super-elastic hydrogenated carbon films originated from a unique fullerene-like nanostructure.
abstract: Hydrogenated carbon films were grown by a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique using CH(4) and H(2) as feedstock at ambient temperature. The microstructure of the films was characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The images showed the presence of curved basal planes in fullerene-like arrangements. An apparent amorphous graphene structure with nm-sized packages of basal planes in a turbostratic feature was observed. The fabricated fullerene-like hydrogenated carbon films (FL-C:H) possess superior mechanical properties, i.e. high hardness (19 GPa) and high elasticity (elastic recovery of 85%). More importantly, the films exhibit ultra-low friction (μ = 0.009) under ambient conditions with 20% relative humidity.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chengbing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shengrong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Junyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang