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Fullerene-like MoS2 Nanoparticles and Their Tribological Behavior

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Abstract

Using a new quartz-made reactor, large amounts of fullerene-like (IF) MoS2 nanoparticles were synthesized by reacting MoO3 vapor with H2S in a reducing atmosphere. The nanoparticles were found to be of high crystalline order; with an average size of 70 nm and consist of more than 30 closed shells. Extensive tribological testing of the nanoparticles in two types of synthetic oils- poly-alpha olefins (PAO)- was carried out and compared to that of bulk (2H platelets) MoS2 and IF-WS2. These tests indicated that under high pressure and relatively low humidity, the IF-MoS2 exhibited a friction coefficient as low as 0.03 and the smallest wear rate of the measured systems. However, its performance was found to be lower in comparison to IF-WS2 after 2500 cycles, due probably to its inferior chemical stability. This study indicates that the tribological performance of the IF nanoparticles depends strongly on their crystalline order and size.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to express our gratitude to Mr. Y. Novema for the difficult glass blowing work in producing these quartz reactors and to Dr. R. Popovitz-Biro for the HRTEM work. We are grateful to the support of the Harold L. Perlman Foundation; the Gurwin Fund, the Horowitz Foundation; the Irving and Cherna Moskowitz Center for Nano and Bio-Nano Imaging and “NanoMaterials Ltd”. RT is the director of the Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Nanoscale Science and holds the Drake family Chair for Nanotechnology. He acknowledges the support of the ERC grant INTIF 226639 and the Israel Science Foundation. FD and JT thank the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) for their support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials and Interfaces, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, 76100, Israel

    R. Rosentsveig & R. Tenne

  2. NanoMateirals Ltd, Weizmann Science Park, P.O. Box 4088, Nes Ziona, 74140, Israel

    A. Gorodnev, N. Feuerstein, H. Friedman, A. Zak & N. Fleischer

  3. Ecole Centrale de Lyon, LTDS, bât H10, 36 avenue Guy de Collongue, 69134, Ecully, France

    J. Tannous & F. Dassenoy

Authors
  1. R. Rosentsveig
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  2. A. Gorodnev
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  3. N. Feuerstein
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  4. H. Friedman
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  5. A. Zak
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  6. N. Fleischer
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  7. J. Tannous
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  8. F. Dassenoy
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  9. R. Tenne
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Correspondence to R. Tenne.

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Rosentsveig, R., Gorodnev, A., Feuerstein, N. et al. Fullerene-like MoS2 Nanoparticles and Their Tribological Behavior. Tribol Lett 36, 175–182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9472-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11249-009-9472-0

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