Abstract Formation of smooth low friction carbon onion nanoparticle film was carried out using vacuum arc deposition. Carbon onions were synthesized by the arc discharge of carbon rod as a cathode and deposited directly onto the substrate in a vacuum. The process of carbon onion synthesis and nanoparticle film growth was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). It was observed that isolated carbon onions were successfully synthesized by pulsed arc discharge of the carbon rod as a cathode under relatively low pressure of 10−7 Pa. The synthesized isolated carbon onions around the cathode were in flight in vacuum and deposited onto the substrate. A smooth carbon onion nanoparticle film with surface roughness (Ra) of 0.37 nm was gradually formed on a graphite substrate by 100 pulse shots of the arc discharge. A smooth nanoparticle film was achieved due to the mixture of the deposition of carbon onions and amorphous carbon in this process, where amorphous carbons were filled between carbon onions interparticle. AFM friction measurements in the vacuum revealed that the synthesized nanoparticle film possessed lower friction coefficient than graphite, which was attributed to the low adhesive force and smooth surface roughness of the carbon onion nanoparticle film.

中文翻译：

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真空电弧沉积法合成光滑低摩擦石墨纳米颗粒薄膜

摘要 采用真空电弧沉积法制备了光滑的低摩擦碳洋葱纳米颗粒薄膜。碳洋葱是通过碳棒作为阴极的电弧放电合成的，并在真空中直接沉积在基板上。使用透射电子显微镜 (TEM)、原子力显微镜 (AFM) 和四极杆质谱仪 (QMS) 研究了碳洋葱合成和纳米颗粒膜生长的过程。观察到，在相对较低的 10-7 Pa 压力下，通过碳棒作为阴极的脉冲电弧放电成功合成了孤立的碳洋葱。在阴极周围合成的孤立的碳洋葱在真空中飞行并沉积在基板上。表面粗糙度 (Ra) 为 0 的光滑碳洋葱纳米粒子薄膜。通过 100 次电弧放电脉冲在石墨基板上逐渐形成 37 nm。由于在该过程中碳洋葱和无定形碳的沉积的混合物获得了光滑的纳米颗粒膜，其中无定形碳填充在碳洋葱颗粒之间。真空中的 AFM 摩擦测量表明，合成的纳米粒子膜具有比石墨更低的摩擦系数，这归因于碳洋葱纳米粒子膜的低粘附力和光滑的表面粗糙度。