Comparison of frictional forces on graphene and graphite

Hyunsoo Lee, Naesung Lee, Yongho Seo, Jonghwa Eom, Sangwook Lee

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199 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report on the frictional force between an SiN tip and graphene/graphite surfaces using lateral force microscopy. The cantilever we have used was made of an SiN membrane and has a low stiffness of 0.006Nm-1. We prepared graphene flakes on a Si wafer covered with silicon oxides. The frictional force on graphene was smaller than that on the Si oxide and larger than that on graphite (multilayer of graphene). Force spectroscopy was also employed to study the van der Waals force between the graphene and the tip. Judging that the van der Waals force was also in graphite-graphene-silicon oxide order, the friction is suspected to be related to the van der Waals interactions. As the normal force acting on the surface was much weaker than the attractive force, such as the van der Waals force, the friction was independent of the normal force strength. The velocity dependency of the friction showed a logarithmic behavior which was attributed to the thermally activated stick-slip effect.

Original languageEnglish
Article number325701
JournalNanotechnology
Volume20
Issue number32
DOIs
StatePublished - 12 Aug 2009

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