Dear Colleagues,

Tribological issues exist in almost all machines and mechanical systems with moving parts, and are one of the major causes of energy consumption and material loss. With the development of automation technology, such issues have become more critical and significantly augmented economic expenditure. Nanotribology is a branch of tribology that studies adhesion, friction, wear and lubrication phenomena viewed at the scale of atoms and molecules. Although macroscale tribological interfaces can be simplified as multiple-asperities contact at nanoscale, the problems faced in nanotribology are unique due to the extremely high surface-to-volume ratio of nanoscale components. 

The invention of probe-based techniques (scanning tunneling microscope, atomic force microscope, etc.) and the application of computational simulations (molecular dynamics, density functional theory, etc.) offered the opportunity for tribological study at the atomic and molecular scales. The appearance of nanomaterials and the development of nanostructures open the doors to achieve nearly zero friction and wearless states (e.g., superlubricity). Nanotribological approaches can be employed to find the interplay among different tribological properties. As the dimension shrinks to nanoscale, adhesion due to interfacial bonding and capillary meniscus becomes indispensable. In addition, the chemistry of the sliding interface changes dynamically due to mechanical activation, so tribochemistry must be considered in many practical applications, including precision surface manufacturing, tribological systems, microsystems and actuators, among others.

This Special Issue aims to share the most recent experimental, theoretical and computational findings concerning adhesion, friction, wear and lubrication at nanoscale.

Prof. Dr. Lei Chen
Prof. Dr. Seong Han Kim
Guest Editors

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nanowear
• tribochemistry
• interfacial adhesion
• lubricants and additives
• modeling and simulation
• superlubricity at small scale
• ultra-precision surface manufacturing
• novel experimental and computational approaches for nanotribology

• Applied Nanotribology, 3rd Edition in Lubricants (1 article)
• Applied Nanotribology in Lubricants (4 articles)