C60 molecular bearings -: art. no. 055509

An ultralubricated system is reported which confines a C-60 monolayer between graphite plates. C-60 molecules act as molecular bearings, assisted by the nanogears of six-membered carbon rings between C-60 molecules and graphite, in which the mean dynamical frictional forces are zero up to a high load of 100 nanonewtons. A stick-slip rolling model with a step rotation of a C-60 molecule is proposed. This ultralubricated system, very promising for the realization of nano- and micromachines, is expected to open a new field of molecular bearings.