Superlubricity of Fullerene Derivatives Induced by Host–Guest Assembly

Fullerenes have been recognized as good candidates for solid lubricants. In this study, the microscale superlubricity of fullerene derivatives was accomplished by the construction of regular host–guest assembly structures. Herein, the host–guest assembly structures of fullerene derivatives were successfully constructed on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface by introducing the macrocycles as the templates and were explicitly revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Meanwhile, the nanotribological properties of the host–guest assemblies were measured using atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing ultralow friction coefficients of 0.003–0.008, which could be attributed to the restriction on removal of fullerene molecules after introducing the templates. The interaction energies were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) method, which indicates the correlation between friction coefficients and interaction strength in the host–guest assemblies. The effort on fullerene-related superlubricity could extend the solid superlubrication systems and provide a novel pathway to explore the friction mechanisms at the molecular level.