English

Quantized Friction across Ionic Liquid Thin Films

Materials Science 2017-09-13 v1

Abstract

Ionic liquids, salts in the liquid state under ambient conditions, are of great interest as precision lubricants. Ionic liquids form layered structures at surfaces, yet it is not clear how this nano-structure relates to their lubrication properties. We measured the friction force between atomically smooth solid surfaces across ionic liquid films of controlled thickness in terms of the number of ion layers. Multiple friction-load regimes emerge, each corresponding to a different number of ion layers in the film. In contrast to molecular liquids, the friction coefficients differ for each layer due to their varying composition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.5542,
  title  = {Quantized Friction across Ionic Liquid Thin Films},
  author = {Alexander M. Smith and Kevin R. J. Lovelock and Nitya Nand Gosvami and Tom Welton and Susan Perkin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.5542},
  year   = {2017}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T00:03:17.050Z