Abstract
Friction at the nanoscale has revealed a wealth of behaviours that depart strongly from the long-standing macroscopic laws of Amontons–Coulomb1,2. Here, by using a ‘Christmas cracker’-type of system in which a multiwalled nanotube is torn apart between a quartz-tuning-fork-based atomic force microscope (TF–AFM) and a nanomanipulator, we compare the mechanical response of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) during the fracture and telescopic sliding of the layers. We found that the interlayer friction for insulating BNNTs results in ultrahigh viscous-like dissipation that is proportional to the contact area, whereas for the semimetallic CNTs the sliding friction vanishes within experimental uncertainty. We ascribe this difference to the ionic character of the BN, which allows charge localization. The interlayer viscous friction of BNNTs suggests that BNNT membranes could serve as extremely efficient shock-absorbing surfaces.
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Acknowledgements
A.S. and L.B. thank M.L. Bocquet for many fruitful discussions on CNTs and BNNTs. P.P. and P.V. thank N. Blanchard for support in TEM imaging of the nanotubes. The authors acknowledge support of an ERC advanced grant, project Micromegas.
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A.S. conceived the project. A.N. performed the experiments. A.N., A.S. and L.B. performed the data analysis. A.N. and A.S. conceived and realized the experimental set-up. P.P. and P.V. characterized the nanotubes. A.S. and L.B. wrote the article with inputs from A.N. and P.P. A.S. and L.B. supervised the project.
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Niguès, A., Siria, A., Vincent, P. et al. Ultrahigh interlayer friction in multiwalled boron nitride nanotubes. Nature Mater 13, 688–693 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3985
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3985
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