Industrial Lubrication and Tribology

Preparation and tribological properties of Ag nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang, Mei Leng,
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Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang, Mei Leng, (2018) "Preparation and tribological properties of Ag nanoparticles/reduced
graphene oxide nanocomposites", Industrial Lubrication and Tribology, https://doi.org/10.1108/ILT-03-2017-0054
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 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag
nanoparticles/reduced graphene
oxide nanocomposites
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to report the tribological behavior of Ag nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ag/RGO NCs) and Ag
nanoparticles (Ag NPs) as a green additive in oil with different concentration and under different friction conditions.
Design/methodology/approach – The Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs were both synthesized in a chemical reduction method. The diameter of silver
nanoparticles implanted between RGO sheets was about 25 nm and that of silver sol was 70 nm. The morphology and structure of Ag/RGO NC were
characterized by TEM, XRD and FTIR. The tribological properties of Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs as lubricant oil additive were evaluated by measuring
the friction coefficients and wear of the surface in different condition which were tested on UMT-II.
Findings – The results indicated that both the additives improved the friction-reduced and anti-wear properties of paraffin oil, and Ag/RGO NCs has
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better tribological performance than Ag NPs. The excellent tribological properties were attributed to the special structure of Ag/RGO NC and the
formation of tribofilm reducing the friction and wear on the shearing surfaces.
Research limitations/implications – It is relatively difficult to observe the morphology of the lubricant film formed on the friction surface and to
analyze the chemical composition at different depths of the lubricant film.
Originality/value – It is the first time for Ag/RGO NCs to be applied to improve the friction-reduced and anti-wear properties of lubricant oil as
additive.
Keywords Lubricant additives, Anti-wear, Ag nanoparticles, Reducing friction, RGO
Paper type Research paper

Introduction nanotube, graphene, nanodiamonds and their composite and

It is well-known that friction and wear are the main causes of
energy consumption and material losses. Many researchers
concern about how to reduce friction and wear during the
operation of machinery and equipment. A wide variety of
lubricants has been used to minimize interfacial friction and
wear. Lubricants contain many traditional chemical additives
to improve the physicochemical and frictional properties. For
instance, some lubricant oils use zinc dithiophosphate (ZDDP)
or other phosphorus and sulfur-bearing compounds to reduce
friction and wear. These compounds are toxic, environmentally
unfriendly and react with metal surfaces. Over the past decade,
inorganic nanoparticles, such as carbon materials (Zhai et al.,
2017; Berman et al., 2014; Berman et al., 2013a, 2013b; Gupta
and Bhushan, 1994; Filleter et al., 2009), metal oxides (Battez
et al., 2008), chalcogenides (Kalin et al., 2012; Yi and Zhang,
2017), rare earth compounds (Zhang et al., 2012) and
composites (Meng et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2012) have been
used as lubricants additive to improve tribological properties
and protect the machinery and equipment. Among them,
carbon-based nanomaterials including fullerene, carbon
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0036-8792.htm
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 0036-8792]
[DOI 10.1108/ILT-03-2017-0054]
derivative have been widely used as solid lubricants or oil
additives owing to their unique self-lubricating effects (Chen
et al., 2017; Gupta and Bhushan, 1994). Miura and Ishikawa
(2010) reported that the grease with C60/graphite composite
exhibits ultralow friction and a C60 monolayer intercalated
between graphene sheets plays an important role in lubricating
behavior (Miura and Ishikawa, 2010). Elomaa et al. (2014)
explored the friction and wear reducing effects of
nanodiamonds in the mono-ethylene glycol lubricated system
for stainless steel contacts. Suarez et al. (2014), Reinert et al.
(2016) investigated that the influence of the CNTs on the
friction and wear of the MWCNT/Ni composites and the
results indicated that the tribological behavior is related to
the microstructural refinement, which improves both the
oxidation kinetics and the mechanical properties of the
composites. In tribology field, graphene and its composites
have been studied as an emerging lubricant owing to its
The authors thank the Major State Basic Research Development Program
of China (973 Program) (2014CB046303), China University of Mining
and Technology for the financial support under the Central University
Basic Research Fund (2012LWB06) and China Scholarship Fund
(201506425002).
Received 9 March 2017
Revised 21 November 2017
18 January 2018
12 February 2018
27 April 2018
Accepted 27 April 2018
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng

lamellar structure providing low inter-lamellar shear and Experimental

identified as an excellent candidate for reducing adhesion,
Preparation and characterization
friction and wear (Lin et al., 2011; Bai et al., 2014; Berman
The silver nanoparticles were prepared via the following
et al., 2013a, 2013b). Berman et al. (2013a, 2013b) reported
chemical reduction process, in which sodium citrate was
that solution-processed graphene layers reduce the friction and
reducer and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was used as a surface
decreased wear on sliding steel surfaces ascribing to formation
modifier. Firstly, 50 ml of an aqueous solution of AgNO3 was
of a protective coating on the shearing surfaces. Lin et al.
added dropwise to a mixture having a sodium citrate
(2011) presented that the tribological properties of the
concentration of 0.005 mol/l and a PVP concentration of 0.25
graphene platelets modified with stearic and oleic and the
Wt.% under vigorous stirring. The mixture was heated to 100°
results indicated that modified graphene platelets remarkably
C in an oil both and held for 30 min. After cooling to room
improve the wear resistance and load-carrying capacity of the
temperature in the air, the particles dispersed in the mixture
machine oil. At the same time, many researchers studied the
were separated with centrifugation and dried in a vacuum oven
tribological properties of graphene composites acting as solid
at 60°C for 48 h.
lubricant and lubricant additives. Bai et al. (2014) presented
The RGO/Ag NCs were prepared by chemical reduction as
that the introduction of CeO2/graphene composites into the
well. In a typical process, the GO powder was dispersed
base oil reduced friction and wear drastically. Song et al. (2012)
ultrasonically for 1 h in water to form a dark mixture into which
reported that the tribological properties of oil containing the Tollens reagent was added. Then the glucose aqueous solution
novel a-Fe2O3 nano-rod/GO composites were better than that (0.1 mol/L) was added into the mixture of GO and Tollens
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of oil containing only GO nano-sheets. Zhang et al. (2013) reagent under vigorous stirring at 50°C. Subsequently, the
studied the tribological properties of the Cu/RGO
reaction system was heated to 95°C and kept stirring for 1 h.
nanocomposite and indicated that the Cu/RGO nanocomposite
During the reaction process, the GO and the silver
improved the wear resistance and load-carrying capacity of the ions absorbed between grapheme sheets were reduced
pure paraffin oil. However, application of graphene as lubricant simultaneously. The particles were separated by centrifugation
additive is still a formidable challenge because of agglomeration at 10,000 R/m for 20 min and washed three times with ethanol
and restacking of graphene nano-sheets caused by Van der and deionized water respectively. Finally, nanoparticles were
Waals interactions.
dried in a vacuum oven at 60°C for 72 h.
Recently, graphene and graphene oxide (GO) are
Figure 1 illustrated the synthesis process of Ag/RGO NCs.
confirmed to be ideal for anchoring nanoparticles on their
The GO was ultrasonic for 1 h to disperse in water in single
sheet surfaces because of their loading capacity, low surface layer. Because of existence of oxygen-containing functional
energy and weak intermolecular bonding (Zhao et al., 2012; group, the fragmented GO layer present the electronegativity
Byeon and Kim, 2013; Wu et al., 2010a, 2010b). Silver were (Ramesh et al., 2004). The positively charged Tollens’ reagent
used as solid lubricant and polymer filler owing to the connected to the surface and boundary of graphene layer
relatively high melting point of 961°C, softness, marked
stably. When the glucose solution was added into mixture, the
plasticity and thermochemical stability of silver (Zhang et al., GO and the silver ions were in situ reduced rapidly into
2009; Ghaednia et al., 2016; Sliney, 1985). Sliney (1985) the RGO and the Ag nanoparticles, respectively, and formed
reported that silver show fine tribological properties as the Ag/RGO NCs.
lubricant oil additive in composite materials. Chiñas-Castillo The phases of all the products were identified with a D8
et al. (2014); Xu et al. (2008a, 2008b) studied the tribological advance (Bruker-AXS) X-ray diffraction (XRD, with Cu-Ka
behavior of stabilized silver NPs as lubricant additive. The radiation, l = 0.1546 nm at 40 kV, 30 mA in the 2u range 5-
results indicated that the silver NPs reduced friction and wear 80°). Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra were
of the rubbing surfaces. It predicted that graphene with two- recorded on a NEXUS 670 spectrometer. The morphology of
dimensional structure can potentially serve as a support to the Ag/RGO NCs composites and the Ag NPs were further
anchor Ag nanoparticles and then endow the as-prepared investigated by TEM.
composites with excellent lubricating performances.
However, the research on the tribological properties of Ag/
Figure 1 The synthesis process of the Ag/RGO NCs composites
graphene nanocomposite as lubricant additives was seldom
reported.
In this paper, the present study designed to integrate Ag
nanoparticles into reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets in
order to create Ag/RGO-based multicomponent system. The
(Ag/RGO NCs) were prepared by in situ synthesis method as
described by Yu et al. (2012), using nontoxic green glucose as
reducer. Graphite oxide and agentammonium complex ion
were reduced at the same time without stabilizing agent under
mild reaction conditions of aqueous solution. In addition to the
synthesis and characterization of the Ag/RGO NCs, the
tribological properties of Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs have been
studied extensively.
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng
Friction measurements and wear tests
Various contents of Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs were
ultrasonically dispersed in liquid paraffin to prepare lubricating
oil with different content of Ag/RGO NCs and Ag NPs.
Friction measurements and wear tests were performed on a
universal micro-tribotester II (UMT-II, Center for Tribology
Inc, USA) under load between 4.9-29.4 N at different sliding
speeds for 1 h. The upper sample is made of 440C stainless
steel balls with the diameter of 10 mm and the hardness of
58HRC. The counterpart is a plate made of 45 # steel with size
of a 40  5 mm and hardness of 55HRC. The morphologies of
the worn surfaces were measured with SEM and 3D Profiler. In
addition, the chemical characterization of the probable novel
tribofilms was analyzed by Energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS).
Results and discussion
XRD analysis
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The XRD patterns of the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag NPs were
shown in Figure 2. There were four diffraction peaks in both
figures with high intensity located at 38.0993, 44.5716,
64.6040 and 77.5083 respectively, which can be indexed to the
typical planes of (111), (2 0 0), (2 2 0) and (3 1 1) of the silver
particles (Khan et al., 2011). The sharp diffraction peaks of two
graphs suggested that the silver NPs in these samples possessed
the excellent crystallization. The diffraction peak at 26°
corresponded to the diffraction peak of the (0 0 2) plane of the
graphene. The other diffraction peak of graphene was not
appeared obviously in the graph because the attached Ag
nanoparticles may also prevented the restacking of these carbon
sheets, and therefore, the characteristic diffractions peaks of the
layered structure disappeared (Xu et al., 2008a, 2008b; Cai and
Song, 2007).
Morphology of the Ag nanoparticles/reduced graphene
oxide nanocomposites and Ag nanoparticles
Figure 3 showed TEM images of the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag
NPs respectively. As can be seen from image (a) that the almost
transparent carbon sheets were decorated randomly by the Ag
Figure 2 XRD patterns of (a) the Ag/RGO NCs and (b) the Ag NPs
(111)
(200)
(220)
Intesity
(a) (002)
(200) (220)
(b)
10 20 30 40 50 60
2-Theta/θ
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Figure 3 TEM images of (a) the Ag/RGO NCs and (b) the Ag NPs
nanoparticles with average size 25 nm, and few particles
scattered out of the supports, indicating the strong interaction
between the particles and supports (Georgakilas et al., 2007).
Figure 3(b) showed that Ag NPs presented the regular spherical
structure and were dispersed with clear grain boundaries. The
average diameter of particles was approximately 50 nm, which
was bigger than that of the Ag NPs in the Ag/RGO NCs.
The FT-IR spectra of the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag NPs
were presented in Figure 4. The spectrum of the Ag NPs
presented two bands. The band at 3,433 cm 1 was assigned to
the vibration absorption of -OH, which existed on the surface of
Ag NPs. The band at 1636 cm 1 was attributed to the -OH
groups bending vibration band of coordinated and adsorbed
water. Whereas for the Ag/RGO NCs, there were other three
bands in addition to the bands at 3,440 cm 1 and 1,623 cm 1.
The bands at 2,846 cm 1 and 2,923 cm 1 were assigned to the
CH2 groups stretching vibration. The band at 1623 cm 1
belonged to stretching vibration absorption of unsaturated C =
C that presented in skeleton of graphene (Bagri et al., 2010;
Gao et al., 2009). The band at 1043 cm 1 was caused by
stretching vibration of epoxy groups which located at the
surface of the RGO (Bagri et al., 2010; Gao et al., 2009).
Friction measurements and wear tests
The effect of the concentration of additives on the coefficient of
friction is displayed Figure 5. The coefficient of friction of the
sample containing the Ag/RGO NCs or the Ag NPs as additive
was strongly influenced by their concentration. It could be
observed that the coefficient of frictions decreased sharply with
Figure 4 The FT-IR spectra of the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag NPs
(311)
(311)
70 80
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng
Figure 5 Influence of concentration of the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag
NPs on the coefficient of friction
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the increase of concentration of additive in the range of 0.5-2.0
Wt.%. Especially when the concentration of Ag/RGO NCs was
2.0 Wt.%, the coefficient of friction decreased by 58 per cent
compared to pure paraffin oil. The friction- reduction
properties of the paraffin oil was remarkably improved after
being added the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag NPs. The optimal
amount of both additives is 2.0 Wt.%. In general, the
synthesized Ag/RGO NCs has better friction-reduction
properties than Ag NPs. However, the coefficient of friction
increased obviously as the concentration increased to 2.5 Wt.
%, owing to the aggregation of nanoparticles as the
concentration exceed a certain value. The aggregation of
nanoparticles led to sedimentation of addictive and destroyed
the dispersion stability of the lubricant oil.
Figure 6 illustrated coefficient of friction as functions of the
test time lubricated by the pure paraffin oil, the paraffin oil
Figure 6 Coefficient of fiction as functions of test duration using
paraffin oil, paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of the Ag/RGO NCs and
paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of the Ag NPs as additives
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
containing 2.0 Wt.% Ag/RGO NCs and the paraffin oil
containing 2.0 Wt.% Ag NPs. The data were obtained using
UMT-2 under the load of 19.6 N and the speed of 2.5 mm/s.
The coefficient of friction of the pure paraffin oil without any
additives increased with the extending of time. The coefficient
of frictions of the paraffin oil containing the Ag/RGO NCs and
the Ag NPs were lower than that of the pure paraffin oil.
Moreover, the coefficient of friction of oil containing the Ag/
ROG NC is lower than that of the oil containing the Ag NPs
because of slippage of the nano-sheets of graphene at asperities
and formation of the tribofilms between the interfaces. The Ag
NPs dispersed between graphene nano-sheets acted as a micro-
bearing which help slippage of graphene nano-sheets and
prevented graphene sheets from agglomerating. The special
structure of the Ag/RGO NCs resisted the wear from the
contact surface and improved friction-reduction and anti-wear
properties of lubricant.
Figure 7 presented the effects of sliding speed and normal load
on the coefficient of friction under the lubrication of oil
containing 2.0 Wt.% the Ag/RGO NCs. As shown in Figure 7(a),
the coefficient of friction decreased with the decreasing of sliding
speed under the same normal load of 19.6 N. When the sliding
speed was 1.0 mm/s, the coefficient of friction increased sharply,
furthermore there was a bump in the coefficient of friction-time
curve of sliding speed of 1.0 mm/s. Compared with others sliding
speed, the coefficient of friction increased rapidly under the low
sliding speed of 1.0 m/s. With extending of the test time, the
lubricating oil films formed on a friction surface gradually, and
the coefficient of friction tended to a lower value. At a higher
sliding speed of 2.5 mm/s because of the effect of solid lubricant
enhanced gradually, the coefficient of friction decreased. At the
sliding speed of 5 and 7.5 mm/s, the integrity of lubricant film
was destroyed, which accounted for the increasing of the
coefficient of friction. The variation of the coefficient of friction
under different loads was shown as Figure 7(b). At the beginning
of the process, all of the coefficients of friction under different
load increased with increasing of testing time and reached a
maximum value at 500 s. The coefficient of frictions decreased
slightly and kept stable after 1,000 s. It can be deduced that it
takes 1,000 s to form an oil film between interfaces. When the
load changed in the range of 4.0-19.6 N, the coefficient of friction
decreased with the increase of the load. When the load exceeded
19.6N, the friction coefficient increased with the increase of the
load. This indicated that heavy loads damage the lubricating oil
film on the friction surface. It is worth to note that the coefficients
of friction are reasonably sensitive to sliding speed and load.
The SEM images of worn surfaces lubricated by the pure
paraffin oil, the oil containing the Ag NPs and the Ag/RGO
NCs respectively were shown in Figure 8. There were many
deep pits and large-area exfoliation on the worn surface
lubricated with the pure paraffin oil, indicating that severe
adhesive wear occurred. However, the worn surfaces lubricated
with oil containing the Ag NPs and the Ag/RGO NCs were
much smoother and showed small pits and shallow furrows,
which suggested that the tribofilms formed on the worn surface.
The tribofilms filled up the pits and repaired the crack on the
surface. Moreover, the tribofilms formed on the surface
lubricated with the oil containing the Ag/RGO NCs were
smoother and compact than that lubricated with oil containing
the Ag NPs.
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng

Figure 7 Effect of sliding speed under the load of 19.6 N (a) and load at the speed of 2.5 mm/s (b) on friction coefficient under the lubrication of oil
containing 2 Wt.% Ag/RGO NCs
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Figure 8 SEM photographs of the worn surface on the steel disc lubricated by (a) pure paraffin oil (b) paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of Ag NPs (c)
paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of Ag/RGO NCs

The detailed three-dimensional microstructures of the worn
area were presented in Figure 9. An obvious furrow and many
irregular long scallops existed in worn area lubricated with
the pure paraffin oil, indicating that severe abrasion
happened during the sliding friction. However, the furrows
on the surface lubricated with oil containing the Ag NPs were
shallower than that lubricated with the pure paraffin oil.
While the furrows on the worn surface lubricated with oil
containing the Ag/RGO NCs were shallower than that
lubricated with oil containing Ag NPs. It can be inferred that
both Ag NPs and Ag/RGO NCs improved anti-wear
properties of paraffin oil and Ag/RGO NCs exhibited more
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng
Figure 9 3D topography of the worn surface on the steel disc
lubricated with (a) pure paraffin oil (b) paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.%
of Ag NPs (c) paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of Ag/RGO NCs
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outstanding mending effect and anti-wear ability than Ag
NPs.
The arithmetic mean roughness of the steel disc surface
lubricated with different lubricants were displayed as Table I.
Ra0 and Ra are the roughness of surface of steel disc before and
after friction test respectively. DRa represents the difference
between Ra and Ra0 (DRa = Ra Ra0). The DRa of the steel disc
lubricated with the pure paraffin oil and oil containing the Ag
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
Table I The arithmetic mean surface roughness of the steel disc lubricated
with (a) the pure paraffin oil, (b) oil containing 2.0 Wt.% Ag NPs and (c) oil
containing 2.0 Wt.% Ag/RGO NCs (load: 19.6 N; sliding speed: 0.0025 m/s)
a b c
Ra0/ m m 0.034 6 0.0059 0.034 6 0.0059 0.034 6 0.0059
Ra/ m m 0.088 6 0.0067 0.060 6 0.0046 0.056 6 0.0051
DRa = Ra Ra0/ m m 0.054 0.026 0.022
NPs and the Ag/RGO NCs are 0.054, 0.026 and 0.022,
respectively. DRa of worn surfaces lubricated with oil
containing the Ag NPs and the Ag/RGO NCs were less than
that of the worn surface lubricated with base oil. It meant that
both the Ag NPs and the Ag/RGO NCs reduce friction and
improve the anti-wear ability of the oil as lubricant additive and
Ag/RGO NCs is better than Ag NPs.
The chemical compositions of the tribofilms formed on the
worn surface lubricated with different lubricants detected by
EDS were shown in Figure 10. The worn surface lubricated
with the pure paraffin oil composed of C, O, Fe, Cr elements.
The material of upside sample was 440C steel that provided the
Cr element, so it was no surprise that the Cr was detected. The
O elements came from the air. As shown in the patterns b and c,
Ag elements were detected from steel disc lubricated with oil
containing the Ag/RGO NC and the Ag NPs. Compared to the
pattern a, the contents of Fe and Cr elements on the worn
surface of the steel disc lubricated with the oil containing the Ag
NPs and the Ag/RGO NCs were reduced, respectively. The
results indicated that the Ag NPs and Ag/RGO NCs dispersed
in paraffin oil were absorbed at the surface of the disc and
formed a new type of friction films reducing friction of the
sliding movement.
In terms of the friction-reducing and anti-wear mechanism,
the excellent tribological properties of the Ag/RGO NCs can be
explained by the synergistic friction-reducing and anti-wear
effect of RGO and Ag nanoparticles. On the one hand, Ag
nanoparticles filled the valley between asperities of the shearing
surfaces or cracks in the surfaces and artificially smooth out the
shearing surfaces, hence can improve the tribological properties
of the paraffin oil. Ag nanoparticles possess a low shearing
strength and can be formed an adsorption film under the high
temperature and pressure during the friction process. The
improvement of the anti-wear property related to the formation
of the deposited film of the Ag NPs (Zhang et al., 2013). In
addition, the size of Ag NPs adsorbed onto the surface of
carbon sheets was less than that of the free Ag NPs, and the
reduction in particle size enhanced the lubrication effect
because nanoparticles can easily enter the surface asperities
where larger particles cannot. Therefore, the particles with
smaller size have better lubricating properties (Akbulut, 2012).
On the other hand, materials with layer structure can cover the
mating surfaces with low friction thin layers when they break
down. The homogenous distribution of the Ag NPs served as
the spacers and reduced the van der Waals forces between the
layers of graphene to prevent the graphene nano-sheets from
restacking and aggregating (Wu et al., 2010a, 2010b), which
made the RGO sheets possess much more effective lubricity
properties.
 Preparation and tribological properties of Ag
Leihua Xu, Yong Zhang, Dekun Zhang and Mei Leng
Figure 10 The EDS patterns and element content of the worn surface
of the steel disc lubricated with (a) paraffin oil (b) paraffin oil containing
2.0 Wt.% of the Ag NPs (c) paraffin oil containing 2.0 Wt.% of the Ag/
RGO NCs
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Conclusions
In summary, we synthesized the Ag/RGO NCs and the Ag NPs
by chemical reduction method and investigated their
tribological properties. The following conclusion can be drawn
from the results: Both additives improved the tribological
properties of paraffin oil in which they were dispersed and
exhibited the best friction-reducing and anti-wear properties at
the concentration of 2.0 Wt.%. Compared to the Ag NPs, the
Ag/RGO NCs had better tribological performance in terms of
capability of reducing friction and anti-wear as paraffin oil
additive owing to the synergistic effect of the graphene sheets
and the Ag nanoparticles. The Ag/RGO NCs exhibited a
powerful repair functions and formed a smooth and compact
films resisting the shear strength and abrasion wear between the
friction surfaces.
For future research, a meaningful area is the compatibility of
the nanoparticles with lubricant’s additives package such as
detergents, dispersants antioxidants and viscosity improvers
(Gulzar et al., 2016).
Industrial Lubrication and Tribology
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Corresponding author
Leihua Xu can be contacted at: xuleihua@163.com