Fabrication of 3D porous graphene materials for oil-based lubrication: Tribological and wear performance

Micro- and nano-scale carbon materials have been extensively investigated as additives in lubricants owing to their remarkable capability for friction reduction and enhancement of thermal conductivity within lubrication systems. Nevertheless, it is still highly desirable for oil-based lubricants to involve well-dispersed ultrafine carbonaceous particles without complicated chemical modification. Herein, we present a strategy to achieve 3D graphene additive in lubricants based on rapid laser irradiation. Notably, PAO4 containing 3D laser-induced graphene (LIG) additive exhibits excellent tribological properties in comparison with many other unmodified carbonaceous materials, including graphene, graphene oxide, single-wall nanotubes, and carbon black. In addition, the lubrication properties of PAO4 can be significantly improved by manipulating the concentration of the 3D LIG additive. With the addition of only 0.1 wt% 3D LIG-10, PAO4 lubricant system shows a reduction of 22% in coefficient of friction (COF) and a reduction of 95% in terms of wear coefficient compared to the base oil. In this work we provided a new strategy to produce 3D graphene oil additives for excellent tribological and wear performance.