Revealing the lubrication mechanism of fluorographene nanosheets enhanced GTL-8 based nanolubricant oil

Fluorographene could be used as lubricating additive which is attributed to its high mechanical strength and unique layered structures. However, it is difficult to disperse fluorographene uniformly in base oil due to its low surface energy. Here, we formulated multilayered fluorographene nanosheets (FG(i)) by fluorinating graphene and then exfoliated the FG(i) using chloroform to obtain fluorographene (FG). Tribological results indicated that the coefficient of friction and the wear rate of GTL-8 nanolubricant oil enhanced with 0.3 mg/ml FG were decreased by 35% and 90%. Combining Transmission Electron Microscope images and X-ray photoelectron spectra, it is illustrated that physical transferred film and tribochemical film were generated which were beneficial for the excellent tribological performances of GTL-8 based oil enhanced via FG.