Tight-binding quantum chemical molecular dynamics simulations of the low friction mechanism of fluorine-terminated diamond-like carbon films

Abstract

The super-low friction mechanism of fluorine-terminated diamond-like carbon (F-terminated DLC) is investigated by using our tight-binding quantum molecular dynamics code and compared with that of hydrogen-terminated DLC (H-terminated DLC). Under a contact pressure of 1 GPa, F- and H-terminated DLC show smooth sliding and low friction coefficients of 0.07 and 0.04, respectively. The ion radius of fluorine is larger than that of hydrogen, which leads to the larger asperity of the F-terminated DLC surface. Thus, the friction coefficient of F-terminated DLC is slightly larger than that of H-terminated DLC. We also perform friction simulations under contact pressures of 3 and 7 GPa. Under a contact pressure of 3 GPa, the friction coefficients are 0.09 and 0.13 for F- and H-terminated DLC, respectively. F-terminated DLC shows the same friction behavior as seen under a contact pressure of 1 GPa, whereas the C–C bond formation reaction is observed at the interface of H-terminated DLC under a contact pressure of 3 GPa, leading to a slightly higher friction coefficient than when under a contact pressure of 1 GPa. Thus, under a contact pressure of 3 GPa, F- and H-terminated DLC show different friction behaviors. Furthermore, under a high contact pressure of 7 GPa, bond formation and dissociation are observed at the friction interface in F- and H-terminated DLC. C–C bond formation is observed more frequently in H-terminated DLC than in F-terminated DLC, and the lifetime of C–C bonds in H-terminated DLC is much longer. At this higher pressure, H-terminated DLC shows a high friction coefficient of 0.42 due to strong C–C bonds at the friction surface, whereas F-terminated DLC shows a low friction coefficient of 0.08. The strong repulsive interaction at the interface of F-terminated DLC that arises from the large negative charge and ion size of fluorine maintains the distance between DLC films under a high contact pressure. This prevents strong C–C bond formation at the friction surface, which results in the low friction properties of F-terminated DLC. We suggest that the friction properties of DLC films under a high contact pressure are improved by F termination.