Cr Doped MoS2 Films: Tribological Properties, Microstructure, and Electronic Structure

Abstract Cr doped MoS2 films were deposited by magnetron sputtering. The tribological properties of Cr doped MoS2 films under vacuum (VC) and air (AR) environments were investigated. The results show that Cr doped MoS2 film with Cr target power of 0.2 A (0.2 A Cr:MoS2 film) exhibits low friction coefficient and long wear life under both VC and AR environments. The chemical compositions of the films were analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). With the increases of Cr target power, the content of Cr increases. The cross-sectional field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) morphologies show that the structure of the films changed from granular particles to column when the Cr target power increases from 0.2 A to 0.4 A. The wear mechanism has also been discussed based on the characteristics of worn surface. The 0.4 A Cr:MoS2 film has the lowest wear volume among these films, which can be attributed to the compact microstructure. The bandgap of Cr doped MoS2 films were measured by XPS and the tribological performance of the film is found to be best when there is a modest bandgap. It can be speculated that the tribological performance of Cr doped MoS2 films are closely related to the width of bandgap.