Extremely low friction on gold surface with surfactant molecules induced by surface potential

An extremely low friction state was observed on the gold surface induced by applying a specific negative potential in cationic surfactant solution.The friction force showed a remarkable reduction from 8.3 to 3.5×10−2 nN(reduced by 99.6%)with increasing the period of negative applied potential,and the final friction coefficient could reduce down to 3×10−4.The extremely low friction state was robust,and it also exhibited an excellent load bearing capacity,which cannot be damaged by a high load.Moreover,the extremely low friction state achieved under negative applied potential could keep stable even after the removal of potential,but failed in a short time,once a specific positive potential was applied.It was demonstrated that there was a stable electro-adsorption of surfactant molecules on the gold surface induced by applying a negative potential,leading to the formation of a bilayer structure on the gold surface.The hydration layers of the bilayer on the gold surface and micelles on the silica probe provided a shear plane with an extremely low shear strength,leading to the extremely low friction state on the gold surface.This study provides a method to achieve extremely low friction state by applied potential.