Scientists develop new two-dimensional nanomaterials that are expected to become super lubricants for Mars rover

According to foreign media reports, the new two-dimensional nanomaterial called MXenes being studied by Missouri University of Science and Technology may bring new super lubricants to better protect the fragile moving parts of future Mars rover
.
The robotic probes sent by NASA to the Red Planet have achieved remarkable success both from a scientific and technological point of view, but there is still much room for improvement
.
Mars is a very harsh environment, with extreme temperature, radiation, zero humidity, low atmospheric pressure, high carbon dioxide content, and chemically harsh soil
.
? This means that as future rover vehicles become larger, more sophisticated, and designed to run longer on more ambitious tasks, their potential failure points must be carefully examined
.
A typical example is the "Perseverance" rover, which is 100 million miles away from oil replacement, and must use lubricating oil in its joints.
These lubricating oils must not fail for 15 years or more
.
To make matters worse, these lubricants must not only survive on Mars, but also during the biological disinfection process before the launch of the spacecraft and during the months of deep space crossing
.
In cooperation with the Nanomaterials Center of Argonne National Laboratory, the Missouri science and technology team led by Dr.
Vadym Mochalin is studying MXenes (pronounced Maxines) as a way to produce Mars-friendly solid super lubricants
.
MXenes is a metal carbide, which is a two-dimensional inorganic compound with some unusual properties, such as electrical conductivity
.
They can also be configured as tough surfaces with very low friction
.
To test this concept, the researchers deposited titanium carbide MXene on a silicon substrate coated with silicon dioxide
.
Then, in a nitrogen atmosphere designed to minimize humidity, the disk is slid against a diamond-like carbon-coated steel ball
.
Researchers have found that Mxene has super lubricity with a friction coefficient of 0.
0067～0.
0017
.
Then, the team added graphene to MXene, which reduced friction by 37.
3% and wear by 2 times
.
This means that it can not only find potential applications in space missions, but also can be used on land, because unlike many other lubricants, it does not require fossil fuels as raw materials
.
"When I saw the probe landing on Mars, I thought:'What if the lubricant in one of its wheels fails'," Mohalin said.
"Then I connected with our work on MXenes.
, Because I thought that we just discovered that MXenes showed super lubricity in the atmosphere without oxygen and humidity, close to the situation on Mars
.
” The results were published in the "Materials Today Advances" magazine
.