Abstract
High-temperature lubrication has always been a hot topic in the lubricant and grease industry, and is also an essential concern in the high-end equipment sector to be addressed. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are an emerging material widely applied in the field of lubrication, owing to their exceptional lubricity and high load-bearing capacity. However, the vulnerability of CQDs to oxidation in air and reduced stability dramatically restrict their high-temperature application capability. In this study, a nanocomposite of amphiphilic polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) homopolymer with excellent lubricating properties and thermal stability, which is hydrogen bonded to CQDs (CQDs@PVP), was designed to achieve low friction and wear of lubricants at high temperatures. The CQDs@PVP are consistently dispersed in both PEG400 and water, and exhibit superior lubricity compared to unmodified CQDs at high temperatures (ranging from 200–150 °C and 90.50 °C). Meanwhile, the dense carbon film on the wear surface and the chemically reactive film of iron compounds directly contribute to the enhanced lubrication performance. These analytical results demonstrate the powerful candidacy of CQDs@PVP as a lubrication additive and promote future high-temperature applications of CQDs in industrial production.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB 0470301), the Key R&D Program of Shandong Province (Nos. 2020CXGC011002 and 2022CXGC020309), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51975560).
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Tao YANG. He received his bachelor degree (2020) in metallurgical from Northeastern University in China. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). His research focuses on intelligent nano-additives for lubricating oil.
Xiaozhen WANG. He received his master degree from the National Center of International Joint Research for Hybrid Materials in 2021 from Qingdao University. His current scientific interests are focused on lubricating oil addtive and its high-temperature application.
Yongmin LIANG. He is a full professor at the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University. He received his Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2006. His research interests include metal organic chemistry, modern organic synthesis methods and applications of new functional organic materials. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal papers.
Xiaobo WANG. He is a full professor in State Key Laboratory of Solid Lubrication, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He received his Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from LICP in 2004. His research interest includes lubricating oils and greases, nano-additives, and tribology mechanism. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and been authorized 20 patents.
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Yang, T., Wang, X., Liu, H. et al. An inorganic-organic hybrid CQDs@PVP lubricant additive: Achieving low friction and wear in PEG and water. Friction 12, 2281–2297 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0871-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-024-0871-x