Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Volume 110, Issue 25, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.255504
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Funding
- NSFC [10832005, 10972113]
- 973 Program [2007CB936803, 2013CB934200]
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A sheared microscopic graphite mesa retracts spontaneously to minimize interfacial energy. Using an optical knife-edge technique, we report first measurements of the speeds of such self-retracting motion (SRM) from the mm/s range at room temperature to 25 m/s at 235 degrees C. This remarkably high speed is comparable with the upper theoretical limit found for sliding interfaces exhibiting structural super-lubricity. We observe a strong temperature dependence of SRM speed which is consistent with a thermally activated mechanism of translational motion that involves successive pinning and depinning events at interfacial defects. The activation energy for depinning is estimated to be 0.1-1 eV.
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