Phototribology: Control of Friction by Light

In dry sliding, the coefficient of friction depends on the material pair and contact conditions. If the material and operating conditions remain unchanged, the coefficient of friction is constant. Obviously, we can tune friction by surface treatments, but it is a nonreversible process. Here, we report active control of friction forces on TiO₂ thin films under UV light. It is reversible and stable and can be tuned/controlled with the light wavelength. The analysis of atomic force microscopy signals by wavelet spectrograms reveals different mechanisms acting in the darkness and under UV. Ab initio simulations on UV light-exposed TiO₂ show a lower atomic orbital overlapping on the surface, which leads to a friction reduction of up to 60%. We suggest that photocontrol of friction is due to the modification of atomic orbital interactions from both surfaces at the sliding interface.