Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 2, 2026

Laboratory-determined Phosphorus Flux from Lake Sediments as a Measure of Internal Phosphorus Loading
Published on: March 6, 2014
Superlubricity of Black Phosphorus as Lubricant Additive
Wei Wang1,2, Guoxin Xie1, Jianbin Luo1
1State Key Laboratory of Tribology , Tsinghua University , Beijing 100084 , China.
Abstract:
Superlubricity is defined as a sliding regime in which friction, or the resistance to sliding of two relatively moving surfaces, almost vanishes. From a practical point of view, the development and use of new materials that can enable superlubricity (coefficient of friction, COF < 0.01) in moving mechanical systems will have huge positive impact on energy-saving and emission reduction. In this work, the use of a new two-dimensional material, black phosphorus (BP) as a high-performance water-based lubricant additive that can significantly reduce friction and achieve superlubricity has been explored. A lowest COF value of 0.0006 ever measured by an application-orientated ball-on-plate tribometer has been found. Robust superlubricity in the aqueous solution with ultrafine BP nanosheets modified by NaOH (BP-OH) has been observed for a wide range of additive concentrations, contact pressures, and sliding velocities owing to the very low shear resistance of the water layer retained by BP-OH nanosheets. This finding has the potential of opening up a new approach to dramatically reduce or even eliminate friction by using BP nanomaterials as lubricant additives.
More Related Videos
14:07Preparation and Use of Carbonyl-decorated Carbenes in the Activation of White Phosphorus
Published on: October 3, 2014
08:29Multi-material Ceramic-Based Components – Additive Manufacturing of Black-and-white Zirconia Components by Thermoplastic 3D-Printing (CerAM - T3DP)
Published on: January 7, 2019
Related Concept Videos
The Phosphorus Cycle
Conjugate Addition (1,4-Addition) vs Direct Addition (1,2-Addition)
Conjugate addition results in a thermodynamically stable product. The reaction retains the stronger C=O bond at the expense of the weaker C=C π bond. The process is slow as the β carbon is less electrophilic than the carbonyl carbon.
Direct addition products are...
Detection of Black Holes
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Conjugate Addition of Enolates: Michael Addition
Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
Design Example: Deciding Thickness of Lubricating Fluid in a Shaft
To calculate the required thickness of the lubricant layer, the tangential velocity at the shaft's surface must first be determined. This velocity is calculated by converting the rotational speed to angular velocity...