Carbon-hydrogen bonding in near-frictionless carbon

Abstract

The uniquely low friction behavior of near-frictionless carbon (NFC) as compared to conventional diamondlike carbon (DLC) is determined by the bonding within the film. Inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to probe the bonding environment of carbon and hydrogen; both INS and FTIR can probe the whole sample. Previous work has focused on surface studies; the present results show that in the film as a whole the majority of the hydrogen is adjacent to sp3-bonded carbon. In addition this work has determined the absence of any molecular hydrogen in NFC.