SELF-ASSEMBLY OF TMTES–GO–APS ON Si SUBSTRATE AND THE TRIBOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MULTILAYER FILM

Abstract

In this paper, 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) was applied as an intermediate coupling agent to form chemical bonding between graphene oxide (GO) sheets and silicon substrate (named as APS–GO). Then, trimethoxyphenylsilane coupling agents (TMTES) were assembled on top of APS–GO films as a tail group. The chemical compositions, microstructures, nanotribological and microtribological behaviors were characterized by XPS, WCA, AFM, UMT-2MT and SEM respectively. The results showed that GO sheets were chemically adsorbed on the surface of substrate and chemically reacted with TMTES to form a mulitilayer film. Nanotribological and microtribological results indicated that the prepared APS–GO–TMTES film possessed excellent tribological properties. In addition, friction and wear mechanisms of samples were discussed at the end of this paper.