MXene Dependent Wear Resistant Surfaces

Giovanni Ramirez¹*, Sankalp Kota², Osman L. Eryilmaz¹, Yury Gogotsi², Michel Barsoum², Ali Erdemir¹

1 Argonne National Laboratory, Energy Systems Division, Argonne, IL 60439, USA

2 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

* Actual address: Bruker Nano Surfaces, San Jose, CA, 95134, USA

MXenes are a class of two-dimensional materials essentially made up of few atom-thick layers of transition metal carbides and/or nitrides. They hold great promise for a variety of industrial applications including energy storage, sensors, electronics, and composites. Like other two dimensional materials like graphene, MXenes hold promise in tribological applications toward mitigation of wear and friction. Here, we present a tribological study of MXene. Specifically, using a pin-on-disk tribometer, we explored the sliding friction and wear behavior of 2D Ti₃C₂ MXene nano-platelets in dry nitrogen and open air as a lubricant and as a cold-pressed flat sample. The results from the powder lubrication showed nearly 3 orders of magnitude reduction in wear rate, WR, and 60% reduction in the coefficient of friction, µ, compared to when steel was tested against steel without the Ti₃C₂. Compared to graphite powders, the reduction in WR, for the same tribocouple, was more than two orders of magnitude lower, while graphite’s µ was low initially (i.e., for about 15 min) it increased to 1 in nitrogen. For the steel/cold pressed tribocouple, there was a 50% reduction in µ, while the WR was reduced by as much as 2 orders of magnitude compared to the baseline steel vs steel. Based on the results of microscopic studies, the friction and wear mechanisms responsible for the enhanced tribological properties of the MXene samples are discussed.