Probing structural superlubricity of two-dimensional water transport with atomic resolution

D Wu and ZP Zhao and B Lin and YZ Song and JJ Qi and J Jiang and ZF Yuan and BW Cheng and MZ Zhao and Y Tian and ZC Wang and MH Wu and K Bian and KH Liu and LM Xu and XC Zeng and EG Wang and Y Jiang, SCIENCE, 384, 1254-1259 (2024).

DOI: 10.1126/science.ado1544

Low-dimensional water transport can be drastically enhanced under atomic-scale confinement. However, its microscopic origin is still under debate. In this work, we directly imaged the atomic structure and transport of two-dimensional water islands on graphene and hexagonal boron nitride surfaces using qPlus-based atomic force microscopy. The lattice of the water island was incommensurate with the graphene surface but commensurate with the boron nitride surface owing to different surface electrostatics. The area-normalized static friction on the graphene diminished as the island area was increased by a power of similar to-0.58, suggesting superlubricity behavior. By contrast, the friction on the boron nitride appeared insensitive to the area. Molecular dynamic simulations further showed that the friction coefficient of the water islands on the graphene could reduce to <0.01.

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