What is friction? How does it originate? How is it dependent on the structural, chemical, mechanical, vibrational, and electronic properties of materials? We are trying to answer these questions by studying nanotribology: the fundamental science of contact, friction, adhesion, lubrication, and wear at the atomic / molecular / nanometer scale.

We are developing and using advanced scanning probe microscopy tools to investigate these properties for novel materials such as diamond thin films, textured polymers, self-assembled organic monolayers, and nanostructured materials. We also make extensive use of surface spectroscopy and material characterization tools so that we can fully understand the structure, composition, and bonding of the materials we are studying, and how they change in response to tribological sliding.

While this work is fundamental in nature, there are numerous important applications. It is crucial to understand surface-dominated forces like friction and adhesion for micro- and nano-scale devices, such as micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), which possess a large surface-to-volume ratio, and novel tribo-mechanical properties by virtue of their small size. We are also interested in nanostructured materials that could be used for nanotechnology applications including sensors, actuators, and information storage.

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