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Correlation between conformation change of polyelectrolyte brushes and lubrication

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Abstract

We directly monitor the absolute separation profiles that function as film thickness between a single glass disk and the charged polyelectrolyte brushes decorated steel slider in water using a home-made slider-on-disk apparatus, which reflects the structural conformation variations and interactions of polymer brushes under externally applied pressure, in addition to probing the relative variation of friction forces under different applied loads and sliding velocities. We find that the polyelectrolyte brushes modified surfaces can sustain high pressure and have extremely low friction coefficients (around 0.006 at pressures of 0.13 MPa; 0.5–0.6 without brushes). The water-lubrication characteristics are correlated to the structural conformation changes of the polyelectrolyte brushes that are mainly governed by electrostatic interactions and the osmotic pressure of counterions inside the polymer chains, which can be used to support and distribute the normal pressure. The apparent thickness of the brush decreases with the increase of loading forces, an increase in the ionic strength causes the polymer chains collapse, and the friction forces increase. This fundamental research is of great importance to understand the mechanical and structural properties of polyelectrolyte brushes and their influences on the tribological behaviors, and helps to design friction/lubrication-controlled surface/interface by taking advantage of polyelectrolyte brushes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Bin Li, Bo Yu  (于波), Xiao-long Wang & Feng Zhou

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Qingdao Technological University, Qingdao, 266033, China

    Feng Guo  (郭峰)

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Bin Li

Authors
  1. Bin Li
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  2. Bo Yu  (于波)
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  3. Xiao-long Wang
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  4. Feng Guo  (郭峰)
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  5. Feng Zhou
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bo Yu  (于波) or Feng Guo  (郭峰).

Additional information

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21125316, 51305428 and 51335010) and Key Research Program of CAS (KJZD-EW-M01).

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Li, B., Yu, B., Wang, Xl. et al. Correlation between conformation change of polyelectrolyte brushes and lubrication. Chin J Polym Sci 33, 163–172 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-015-1564-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-015-1564-8

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