Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 103: Focus Session: Molecular Nanostructures on Surfaces: On-Surface Synthesis and Single-Molecule Manipulation IV
O 103.6: Talk
Friday, March 22, 2024, 12:00–12:15, HE 101
Flexible Superlubricity Unveiled in Sidewinding Motion of Individual Polymeric Chain — •J.G. Vilhena1,2, Rémy Pawlak2, Thilo Glatzel2, Giacomo Prampolini3, and Ernst Meyer2 — 1University of Basel, Switzerland — 2Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain — 3Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ICCOM-CNR), Italy
A combination of low temperature atomic force microcopy and molecular dynamic simulations is used to demonstrate that soft designer molecules realize a sidewinding motion when dragged over a gold surface. Exploiting their longitudinal flexibility, pyrenylene chains are indeed able to lower diffusion energy barriers via on-surface directional locking and molecular strain. The resulting ultralow friction reaches values on the order of tens of pN reported so far only for rigid chains sliding on an incommensurate surface. Therefore, we demonstrate how molecular flexibility can be harnessed to realize complex nanomotion while retaining a superlubric character. This is in contrast with the paradigm guiding the design of most superlubric nanocontacts (mismatched rigid contacting surfaces).
Keywords: Tribology; Atomic Force Microscopy; Molecular Dynamics; Superlubricity; Nanomechanics