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Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 126101 (2004) [4 pages]

Superlubricity of Graphite

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Martin Dienwiebel*, Gertjan S. Verhoeven, Namboodiri Pradeep, and Joost W. M. Frenken†
Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Jennifer A. Heimberg‡
FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Henny W. Zandbergen
Laboratory of Materials Science, Delft University of Technology, Rotterdamseweg 137, 2628 AL Delft, The Netherlands

Received 31 July 2003; published 24 March 2004

See accompanying Physics Focus

Using a home-built frictional force microscope that is able to detect forces in three dimensions with a lateral force resolution down to 15 pN, we have studied the energy dissipation between a tungsten tip sliding over a graphite surface in dry contact. By measuring atomic-scale friction as a function of the rotational angle between two contacting bodies, we show that the origin of the ultralow friction of graphite lies in the incommensurability between rotated graphite layers, an effect proposed under the name of “superlubricity” [ M. Hirano and K. Shinjo Phys. Rev. B 41 11 837 (1990)].

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.126101
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.126101
PACS:
68.35.Af, 07.79.Sp, 62.20.Qp, 68.37.Ps

*Present address: IAVF Antriebstechnik AG, Im Schlehert 32, 76187 Karlsruhe, Germany.

†Electronic address: frenken@phys.leidenuniv.nl

‡Present address: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USA.

 
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