Frictional behaviour of vertically aligned carbon nanotube films

Vertically aligned CNT films were grown on polycrystalline β-SiC wafers by the surface decomposition method. Their frictional behaviours were investigated by AFM at the nanometer scales. Compared with DLC film and silicon wafers, they demonstrate an extremely low friction coefficient at the nanometer scale about 0.03–0.04. The effect of the surface topography on the friction coefficient is obvious for the aligned CNT film sliding at the nanometer scale. This implies that the excellent tribological properties of the vertically aligned CNT films, combined with their small dimensions and structural perfection, might lead to significant improvement of the performance of nano-devices.