Tribological properties of chemically modified diamond like carbon films in hydrogen plasma

Assessing the temporal stability of surface functional groups introduced by plasma treatments on the outer shells of carbon nanotubes

“…Conversely, the H 2 /Ar plasma is reported to lead to the highest decrease in sp 2 bonds with increasing treatment time while the sp 3 structure is less affected when compared to the O 2 /Ar series, as shown in S6a,b. This result is consistent with the studies carried out on diamond-like carbon (DLC) where the H 2 plasma exposure of thin films has been shown to etch away unsaturated bonds while increasing the sp 3 content 54 .…”

“…Carboxylic groups were found more predominantly with the H 2 /Ar treatments plateauing at 6.9% while the O 2 /Ar treatment clearly shows a surface saturation, plateauing at 5.2% after a short exposure of 2 min to the plasma environment. Interestingly, the H 2 /Ar gas also shows the most significant drop in sp 2 carbon, down to an absolute minimum of 45.8% which can be correlated either to reduction reactions between the hydrogen radicals 56 or to the breakage of C=C bonds by the H + ions 54 57 or H radicals which, conversely, stabilizes the sp 3 C-C content. These results match previous studies where H 2 plasma treatments were found to drastically reduce the electrical conductance upon treatment, with the loss of C=C bonds 56 58 .…”

Piezoresistive properties of diamond like carbon films containing copper

“…Thus it can be supposed that as deposited DLC:Cu film is coated by adsorbed oxygen due to air exposure [42,43]. In situ ion beam etching of DLC:Cu film results in significant shift of the O1s XPS peak maximum and change of the peak shape.…”

Development of highly durable and low friction micro-structured PDMS coating based on bio-inspired surface design

“…These systems need to operate in dry condition, solely relying on the surface durability of the components. In this regard, hard materials such as diamondlike-carbon (DLC), SiC, and W have been utilized with limited success as protective coatings for micro-electro-mechanicalsystems (MEMS) and micro-molds [1][2][3]. Though high hardness is effective to battle abrasive interaction, it is not the primary parameter related to adhesion, which is another important mechanism of wear [4,5].…”