Tribochemical Manufacturing of Thin Functional Films on Silicon Oxide Surfaces

The discovery of tribochemical reactions at the sliding interfaces has suggested new pathways for material synthesis. This study explored the formation of thin functional films at the steel-on-silicon sliding interfaces, with toluene as base liquid and five different additives i.e. Zinc dialkyldithiophosphates (ZDDP), 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), Octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS), (3-mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and Octadecene. All additives were found to result in thin functional films of varying chemical, mechanical, and electrical characteristics. The Octadecene and OTMS APTES produced carbon rich tribofilms. The OTMS tribofilms were soft, as revealed by the quantitative nanomechanical analysis. The MPTMS and ZDDP additives resulted in conductive thin films in a well-defined linear pattern. The MPTMS resulted in continuous conductive films with surface coverage higher than that of the ZDDP.