Study explores potential of MXene as lubricant
A team led by TU Wien in Vienna is exploring the use of 2D nanomaterial MXene as a lubricant suitable for use in aerospace and steel manufacturing.
Alongside research partners from Saarbrücken University in Germany, Purdue University in the USA and the University of Chile, the team at TU Wien has published its findings in the journal ACS Nano.
The study highlights the potential for MXene to perform as a highly durable lubricant, able to withstand difficult conditions such as extreme heat or the vacuum of space. Like the carbon material graphene, MXenes are 2D materials whose properties are essentially determined by the fact that they are ultra-thin layers without strong bonds between them.
“You first start with so-called MAX phases, which are special layer systems consisting of titanium, aluminium and carbon,” said Professor Carsten Gachot, head of Tribology Group at the Institute of Engineering Design and Product Development at TU Wien. “The crucial trick is to etch out the aluminium with hydrofluoric acid.”
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