Unprecedented tribological performance of binary Sb/Ag-doped MoS2 coatings fabricated with chemical vapor deposition

This study aims at assessing the tribological performance of novel self-lubricating chemical vapor-deposited MoS2 coatings binary-doped with antimony (Sb) and silver (Ag). The Sb/Ag-doped MoS2 composite coatings showed an excellent solid lubrication performance with low and constant coefficients of friction of about 0.1 for a sliding time of 6 h. Estimations of the underlying wear rates revealed a reduction of the resulting wear rate by two orders of magnitude for the binary-doped Sb/Ag-MoS2 composite coatings (2.43 +/- 0.27 x 10(-7) mm(3)/Nm versus 2.70 +/- 0.44 x 10(-5) mm(3)/Nm for un-doped MoS2 coating), which reflects an outstanding wear resistance.

Automated summary

In this study, the tribological performance of novel self-lubricating chemical vapor-deposited MoS2 coatings binary-doped with antimony (Sb) and silver (Ag) was assessed, showing excellent solid lubrication performance and outstanding wear resistance. The wear rate was reduced by two orders of magnitude for the binary-doped Sb/Ag-MoS2 composite coatings compared to the un-doped MoS2 coating.