In Situ Graphene Formation Induced by Tribochemical Reaction for Sustainable Lubrication

Graphene is widely applied as lubricating materials owing to its superior tribological performances. However, its complex synthesis process causes environmental pollution and increases production cost. In the current work, we developed a facile strategy to construct a sustainable lubricant system by generating graphene in situ, which avoided the complicated graphene synthetic process. The novel lubricant system is constructed by introducing cyclopropanecarboxylic acid (CPCa) and metal particles (nickel and copper) into base oil. CPCa molecules undergo tribochemical reaction to produce hydrocarbons serving as the solid lubricant, and metal particles catalyze the graphitization of hydrocarbons. Importantly, friction products can be reused as lubricating additives for base oil and provide better lubrication performance compared with the original lubricant systems. This fully demonstrates the sustainable lubrication ability of friction products and their potential as recyclable lubricant additives. The present work provides a novel perspective for the design and development of green lubricant additives.