First-principles Calculations Reveal Frictional Advantage for C2N/C6N6 van der Waals Heterostructures

Friction at the atomic scale is determined for three different carbon nitride structures namely C2N/C2N, C6N6/C6N6 and C6N6/C2N employing ab-initio density functional theory (DFT). The sliding path along the lowest energy corrugations determines the static frictional forces. Both the homo-layer structures (C2N/C2N and C6N6/C6N6) have higher corrugation energy and correspondingly higher static lateral forces with respect to the hetero-layer structure (C2N/C6N6). The corrugation energy for the C2N/C6N6 heterostructure ( & delta;corr ${{\delta }_{corr}}$ =0.29 meV/atom) is one-order lower than C2N/C2N ( & delta;corr ${{\delta }_{corr}}$ =2.08 meV/atom) and C6N6/C6N6 ( & delta;corr ${{\delta }_{corr}}$ =4.37 meV/atom). Such a significantly lower corrugation energy for the heterostructure arises due to the reduced fluctuation in the interfacial charge density along the sliding pathway. Moreover, the change in the interlayer distance along the sliding pathway is only 0.2 & ANGS; for the heterostructure while its 0.3 & ANGS; and 0.4 & ANGS; for C2N and C6N6 homo-layers respectively. The friction coefficients (F-L/F-N, F-L=static lateral force; F-N=normal force) decrease with increasing load for all the systems with the lowest value (0.04) for C2N/C6N6 at 2 GPa. The van der Waals heterostructures are, therefore, predicted to be highly efficient lubricant materials for reducing friction at the atomic scale.

Automated summary

Using ab-initio density functional theory (DFT), the friction at the atomic scale of three different carbon nitride structures (C2N/C2N, C6N6/C6N6, and C6N6/C2N) is compared. The sliding path with the lowest energy corrugations determines the static frictional forces. The homo-layer structures (C2N/C2N and C6N6/C6N6) have higher corrugation energy and higher static lateral forces compared to the hetero-layer structure (C2N/C6N6). The heterostructure has significantly lower corrugation energy due to reduced fluctuation in the interfacial charge density along the sliding pathway. Moreover, the interlayer distance change is smallest for the heterostructure.