Gallium-based liquid metal hybridizing MoS2 nanosheets with reversible rheological characteristics and enhanced lubrication properties

Xing Li; Ruizhi Wang; Jiaqian Li; Guangneng Dong; Qinghua Song; Bing Wang; Zhanqiang Liu

doi:10.1039/d3ra02297h

Gallium-based liquid metal hybridizing MoS₂ nanosheets with reversible rheological characteristics and enhanced lubrication properties

RSC Adv. 2023 Jul 7;13(29):20365-20372. doi: 10.1039/d3ra02297h. eCollection 2023 Jun 29.

Authors

Xing Li^{1

2

3}, Ruizhi Wang^{1

2

3}, Jiaqian Li⁴, Guangneng Dong⁵, Qinghua Song^{1

2}, Bing Wang^{1

2}, Zhanqiang Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University Jinan 250061 China xingli@sdu.edu.cn.
² Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of MOE/ National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education at Shandong University China.
³ Collaborative Innovation Center for Shandong's Main crop Production Equipment and Mechanization China.
⁴ School of energy and power Engineering, Shandong University Jinan 250061 China jiaqianli@sdu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Modern Design and Rotor-Bearing System, School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an 710049 China.

Abstract

Gallium-based liquid metal (GLM) is a promising lubricant candidate due to its high load capacity and high thermal stability. However, the lubrication performance of GLM is restricted by its metallic characteristics. Herein, this work proposes a facile method to obtain a GLM@MoS₂ composite by integrating GLM with MoS₂ nanosheets. The incorporation of MoS₂ imparts GLM with different rheological properties. Since GLM is able to be separated from the GLM@MoS₂ composite and agglomerates into bulk liquid metal again in alkaline solution, the bonding between GLM and MoS₂ nanosheets is reversible. Moreover, our frictional tests demonstrate that the GLM@MoS₂ composite exhibits enhanced tribological performance including reduction of friction coefficient and wear rate by 46% and 89%, respectively, in contrast to the pure GLM.