Wavelength-dependent correlation of LIPSS periodicity and laser penetration depth in stainless steel

• Nitin Chaudhary,
• Chavan Akash Naik,
• Shilpa Mangalassery,
• Jai Prakash Gautam and
• Sri Ram Gopal Naraharisetty

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1302–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.95

• -enhanced Raman spectroscopy, reduction of friction and wear, fuel injection, and enhancement of tribological properties [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Extensive research efforts have been directed toward understanding LIPSS, encompassing systematic investigations on

Influence of ion beam current on the structural, optical, and mechanical properties of TiO₂ coatings: ion beam-assisted vs conventional electron beam evaporation

• Agata Obstarczyk and
• Urszula Wawrzaszek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1097–1112, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.81

• -assisted deposition (IBAD), which is the bombardment of a thin film with a beam of energetic particles during deposition, is an excellent technique for modifying the microstructure and optical, mechanical, and tribological properties of thin film coatings [8][9][10][11]. This energetic process offers many

• wavelength range of 250–1000 nm. As in our previous work [25], nanoindentation and wear resistance tests were used to determine the mechanical and tribological properties of the prepared coatings. The hardness of the prepared coatings was determined by nanoindentation using a CSM Instruments nanoindenter

• properties. Although this method is well known, as is titanium dioxide, it is very difficult to find research that provides a comprehensive discussion and comparison of the impact of IBAD on the conventional EBE method regarding structural, optical, mechanical, or tribological properties. A comparison of XRD

Multifunctional properties of bio-poly(butylene succinate) reinforced with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

• Volodymyr Krasinskyi,
• Krzysztof Bajer,
• Ludmila Dulebova,
• Nickolas Polychronopoulos,
• Oksana Krasinska and
• Daniel Kaczor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1014–1024, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.76

• mechanical strength and stiffness, improved the tribological properties by reducing friction, and increased the crystallization temperature. However, it also resulted in a decrease in elasticity. Morphological analysis confirmed the uniform dispersion of the nanotubes. These findings underscore the potential

• ); structure; tribological properties; Introduction In recent years, biodegradable polymers have gained significant attention as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional plastics. One particularly promising material is poly(butylene succinate), which exhibits a desirable combination of mechanical

• and water absorption of PBS; however, it significantly influences surface wettability and tribological properties (Table 3). The dynamic and static coefficients of friction for the PBS/CNT_0.5 nanocomposite are 1.7 and 1.3–1.7 times lower, respectively, than those of the pure PBS. The surface

Biomimetics and bioinspired surfaces: from nature to theory and applications

• Rhainer Guillermo Ferreira,
• Thies H. Büscher,
• Manuela Rebora,
• Poramate Manoonpong,
• Zhendong Dai and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 418–421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.32

• understanding the biological systems and their potential as inspiration for innovation in producing biomimetic and bioinspired surfaces. Key topics included bioinspired micro- and nanostructured surfaces, and their tribological properties like friction, wear resistance, and adhesion. Discussions also addressed

Nanoscale friction and wear of a polymer coated with graphene

• Robin Vacher and
• Astrid S. de Wijn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 63–73, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.4

• [5][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. The effect of graphene coatings and their ability to protect against wear depend on the substrate underneath. So far, they have been studied almost exclusively on metals [20][21]. The tribological properties of polymers coated with graphene have barely

Nanomechanics of few-layer materials: do individual layers slide upon folding?

• Ronaldo J. C. Batista,
• Rafael F. Dias,
• Ana P. M. Barboza,
• Alan B. de Oliveira,
• Taise M. Manhabosco,
• Thiago R. Gomes-Silva,
• Matheus J. S. Matos,
• Andreij C. Gadelha,
• Cassiano Rabelo,
• Luiz G. L. Cançado,
• Ado Jorio,
• Hélio Chacham and
• Bernardo R. A. Neves

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1801–1808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.162

• all those cases, the interlayer adhesion energy (α), the substrate adhesion energy (αs), and the bending stiffness (κ) govern folding, sliding, and wrinkling of 2D materials, which are ultimately responsible for those unusual kinds of behavior. α is intimately related to tribological properties of

Characterization of the microscopic tribological properties of sandfish (Scincus scincus) scales by atomic force microscopy

• Weibin Wu,
• Christian Lutz,
• Simon Mersch,
• Richard Thelen,
• Christian Greiner,
• Guillaume Gomard and
• Hendrik Hölscher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2618–2627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.243

• sandfish due to their ability to swim in loose, aeolian sand. Some studies report that this fascinating property of sandfish is accompanied by unique tribological properties of their skin such as ultra-low adhesion, friction and wear. The majority of these reports, however, is based on experiments

• that the tribological properties of sandfish scales on the microscale are not exceptional if compared to snake scales or technical surfaces such as aluminium, Teflon, or highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Keywords: biotribology; frictional properties of reptile scales; sandfish; Scincus scincus

• separating sand particles from the dense scales thereby reducing van der Waals forces [16]. Even a glycosylated technical surface showed a reduced granular friction coefficient [16]. Here, we analyse the tribological properties of single scales of sandfish (S. scincus) by atomic force microscopy and

Friction reduction through biologically inspired scale-like laser surface textures

• Johannes Schneider,
• Vergil Djamiykov and
• Christian Greiner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2561–2572, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.238

• Reducing friction forces is a major challenge in many engineering applications involving moving parts. For the past 50 years, the morphological texturing of surfaces for improving tribological properties has been investigated. Only recently, the application of biologically inspired surface features, like

• lizards and insects [39][40][45]. There are four effects that are classically used to argue why laser surface texturing has a beneficial influence on tribological properties – the trapping of wear debris [46], changes in the contact angle [47], the storage of lubricant [48] and an additional micro

• been optimized for decades and the scale-like surface textures only recently have emerged as a research focus, it is quite likely that their full potential for positively influencing tribological properties has not yet been reached. This is especially true as wear was not the focus of this study, but

Evidence of friction reduction in laterally graded materials

• Roberto Guarino,
• Gianluca Costagliola,
• Federico Bosia and
• Nicola Maria Pugno

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2443–2456, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.229

• properties can be exploited to reduce static friction with respect to the corresponding non-graded material and to tune it to desired values, opening possibilities for the design of bio-inspired surfaces with tailor-made tribological properties. Keywords: bio-inspired materials; friction; functionally

• macroscopic tribological properties through local variations of material and surface properties, i.e., Young’s moduli and friction coefficients, reducing static friction compared to the non-graded case. The results also allow the predictions of a discrete approach like the spring-block model [31][32] to be

Recent highlights in nanoscale and mesoscale friction

• Andrea Vanossi,
• Dirk Dietzel,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Ernst Meyer,
• Rémy Pawlak,
• Thilo Glatzel,
• Marcin Kisiel,
• Shigeki Kawai and
• Nicola Manini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1995–2014, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.190

Atomistic modeling of tribological properties of Pd and Al nanoparticles on a graphene surface

• Alexei Khomenko,
• Miroslav Zakharov,
• Denis Boyko and
• Bo N. J. Persson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1239–1246, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.115

• temperature, the velocity and position of the center of mass, the dimensions of the nanoparticle, and the friction and substrate forces acting on the particle. We also study how the friction force depends on the nanoparticle–graphene contact area and the temperature. Conclusion: The tribological properties of

• ][14]. There are many studies concerning the tribological properties of nanoobjects. For example, alumina nanoparticles were studied in [9] and self-organized monolayers in [4]. In [5] the authors studied the interaction in ultrahigh vacuum between a nanoasperity and an alkali-metal halide surface at

• tribological properties of nanoparticles depend on the material. It was noted that the substrate force that acts on the nanoparticle has a sawtooth form as a function of coordinate (and time) as is also observed in nanotribological experiments [6][13][14]. We have studied the temperature dependence of friction

Exploring wear at the nanoscale with circular mode atomic force microscopy

• Olivier Noel,
• Aleksandar Vencl and
• Pierre-Emmanuel Mazeran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2662–2668, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.266

• generated [15][16]. Although AFM is used as a versatile technique, it was first dedicated to imaging and not to the measurement of tribological properties. Classical wear experiments with the AFM hinge on the slow linear scanning of the sample surface with the AFM tip with a constant normal load. Under such

Numerical investigation of the tribological performance of micro-dimple textured surfaces under hydrodynamic lubrication

• Kangmei Li,
• Dalei Jing,
• Jun Hu,
• Xiaohong Ding and
• Zhenqiang Yao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2324–2338, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.232

• hydrodynamic lubrication. Due to the complexity of the governing equations, however, it is difficult to obtain an analytical solution. Therefore, a numerical simulation is adopted in this study to solve the problem. Characterization of tribological properties The effect of the micro-dimple array on the

A comparative study of the nanoscale and macroscale tribological attributes of alumina and stainless steel surfaces immersed in aqueous suspensions of positively or negatively charged nanodiamonds

• Colin K. Curtis,
• Antonin Marek,
• Alex I. Smirnov and
• Jacqueline Krim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2045–2059, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.205

• existing protective boundary layers in the case of stainless steel contacts. This study therefore reveals atomic scale details associated with systems that exhibit starkly different macroscale tribological properties, enabling future efforts to predict and design complex lubricant interfaces. Keywords

• measurement experiments were complemented by AFM and SEM measurements of the surface topography before and after the ND exposure, as well as macroscale measurements of µk. The materials were inspired by Liu et al.’s suggestion that differences in the tribological properties between +ND and −ND suspensions

• at all. Therefore, electrostatic interactions alone would not explain effects on −ND on tribological properties of SS304 surfaces. One common feature observed in the data sets is that −ND dispersions produced through carboxylation consistently reduced the macroscopic friction coefficient relative to

Nanotribological behavior of deep cryogenically treated martensitic stainless steel

• Germán Prieto,
• Konstantinos D. Bakoglidis,
• Walter R. Tuckart and
• Esteban Broitman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1760–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.177

• interactions and the type of sliding conditions. Conclusion Considering the results obtained from the study of the mechanical and tribological properties of a cryogenically treated martensitic AISI 420 stainless steel, we conclude that cryogenically treated specimens show a higher amount of undissolved carbon

Development of a nitrogen-doped 2D material for tribological applications in the boundary-lubrication regime

• Shende Rashmi Chandrabhan,
• Velayudhanpillai Jayan,
• Somendra Singh Parihar and
• Sundara Ramaprabhu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1476–1483, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.147

• N-rGO as an effective additive for improving the tribological properties of base oil. N-rGO has been characterized by different characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman

• spectroscopy. N-rGO-based nanolubricants are prepared and their tribological properties are studied using a four-ball tester. The nanolubricants show excellent stability over a period of six months and a significant decrease in coefficient of friction (25%) for small amounts of N-rGO (3 mg/L). The improvement

• in tribological properties can be attributed to the sliding mechanism of N-rGO accompanied by the high mechanical strength of graphene. Further, the nanolubricant is prepared at large scale (700 liter) and field trials are carried out at one NTPC thermal plant in India. The implementation of the

Biological and biomimetic materials and surfaces

• Stanislav Gorb and
• Thomas Speck

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 403–407, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.42

• dispersal. Kreitschitz et al. studied these tribological properties of the seed envelope under different hydration conditions and revealed the presence of cellulose fibrils in the mucilage in a microscopy study, which are presumably responsible for the uniform distribution of the mucilaginous layer on the

• rheological properties were tested. The authors have clearly demonstrated that by varying their chemical composition, synthetic heterogeneous emulsions can be adjusted to have diverse consistencies and mimic certain rheological and tribological properties of natural tarsal insect adhesives [23]. In one of the

Structural and tribometric characterization of biomimetically inspired synthetic "insect adhesives"

• Matthias W. Speidel,
• Malte Kleemeier,
• Andreas Hartwig,
• Klaus Rischka,
• Angelika Ellermann,
• Rolf Daniels and
• Oliver Betz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 45–63, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.6

• able to mimic certain rheological and tribological properties of natural tarsal insect adhesives. Keywords: adhesion; bionics; emulsion; friction; insects; Introduction During evolution, insects have developed the ability to move vertically and upside-down on various kinds of surface, a feat that has

• to mimick tribological properties of tarsal insect adhesives by preparing a second generation of technical emulsions on the basis of insights gained from a first (more imperfect) generation. Since natural tarsal adhesive emulsions of insects are hard to isolate and thus not well accessible to

• rheological and tribological properties of the biological role model and by their having various consistencies (cf. Supporting Information File 1, Table S1). With regard to their chemical composition, other than of water and hydrocarbons, we have used amphiphilic compounds selected on the basis of their

Template-controlled mineralization: Determining film granularity and structure by surface functionality patterns

• Nina J. Blumenstein,
• Jonathan Berson,
• Stefan Walheim,
• Petia Atanasova,
• Johannes Baier,
• Joachim Bill and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1763–1768, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.180

• coarse agglomerates with a higher roughness and irregular surface structure. These findings open intriguing perspectives to control further properties that depend on film granularity such as optical, mechanical, piezoelectrical or tribological properties, by means of the chemical functionality pattern of

Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications

• Juergen Bartelmess and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1980–1998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.207

• lubricant [75] and as an additive to the oil Krytox 143AB, where the aim was to improve the lubricating lifetime for space applications [76]. In the following years, several reports were published on the characterization of the tribological properties of CNO materials, produced through different methods [77

• electrode materials in capacitors, as anode materials in lithium-ion batteries, as catalyst support in fuel cells. They have even attracted the interest of NASA researchers for their tribological properties as additives for aerospace applications. Despite much interest in different carbon-based nano

From sticky to slippery: Biological and biologically-inspired adhesion and friction

• Stanislav N. Gorb and
• Kerstin Koch

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1450–1451, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.157

• . Additionally, numerous experimental methods for the characterization of the tribological properties of biological surfaces at macro-, micro-, and nanoscale levels are demonstrated in this Thematic Series. This compilation of articles is an example of interdisciplinary science as it combines approaches from

Manipulation of nanoparticles of different shapes inside a scanning electron microscope

• Boris Polyakov,
• Sergei Vlassov,
• Leonid M. Dorogin,
• Jelena Butikova,
• Mikk Antsov,
• Sven Oras,
• Rünno Lõhmus and
• Ilmar Kink

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 133–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.13

• experiments: perpendicular to the manipulation direction and parallel to the manipulation direction. Results and Discussion Morphology of the NPs. The shape of the NPs has a direct impact on their tribological properties and can be considered as a primary factor that determines the NP–substrate contact area

Friction behavior of a microstructured polymer surface inspired by snake skin

• Martina J. Baum,
• Lars Heepe and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 83–97, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.8

• ability of the snakes to vary the effective elastic modulus by varying their body stiffness is useful to optimize their tribological properties in adaptation to different substrates and locomotion modes [2][36][37]. Given that the effective elastic modulus is varied in a highly optimized frictional system

Friction and durability of virgin and damaged skin with and without skin cream treatment using atomic force microscopy

• Bharat Bhushan,
• Si Chen and
• Shirong Ge

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2012, 3, 731–746, doi:10.3762/bjnano.3.83

• the function and improve the feel of the skin [14]. For the studies of aesthetic repair and percutaneous absorption of cosmetics and drugs, pig skin has been used [15][16][17]. In studies of the mechanical [18][19][20][21] and tribological properties [6][22] of skin, and the percutaneous absorption of

The effect of surface anisotropy in the slippery zone of Nepenthes alata pitchers on beetle attachment

• Elena V. Gorb and
• Stanislav N. Gorb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 302–310, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.35

• to employ their claws, because of the downward orientation of the overhanging cell edges. Thus, the anisotropic morphology of the lunate cells causes the anisotropic tribological properties of the slippery pitcher zone. The effect of cell shape on the prevention of claw anchorage has also been

• tribological properties of natural surfaces in general, and the present paper opens a new field in the biomechanics and biomimetics of this kind of system. Here, we were able to establish the first artificial prototypes of anisotropic surface structures by a two-step replicating process. In the framework of a