Atomistic modelling of friction of Cu and Au nanoparticles adsorbed on graphene

Abstract

We present classical molecular dynamics calculations of the behavior of copper and gold nanoparticles on a graphene sheet, sheared with a constant applied force $F_{\mathrm{a}}$. The force $F_{\mathrm{s}}$ acting on the particle from the substrate depends on the material of the nanoparticles (Au or Cu), and exhibits a sawtooth dependency on time, which we attribute to local commensurability between the metal nanoparticle surface atomic positions with the graphene lattice. The time-averaged value of $F_{\mathrm{s}}$ (the friction force) acting on Au nanoparticles increases linearly with the contact area, having slopes close to the experimentally observable ones. A qualitative model is proposed to explain the observed results.

8 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Atomistic modelling of frictional anisotropy of palladium nanoparticles on graphene