Formation of intermittent covalent bonds at high contact pressure limits superlow friction on epitaxial graphene

Epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) exhibits superlow friction due to its weak out-of-plane interactions. Friction-force microscopy with silicon tips shows an abrupt increase of friction by one order of magnitude above a threshold normal force. Density-functional tight-binding simulations suggest that t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bartosz Szczefanowicz, Takuya Kuwahara, Tobin Filleter, Andreas Klemenz, Leonhard Mayrhofer, Roland Bennewitz, Michael Moseler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2023-03-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L012049