The creation of novel doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings with improved mechanical and tribological properties, good adhesion, low surface energy, and/or antibacterial properties could drastically reduce the energy loss in tribosystems under dry sliding, prolong the service life of moving components from the nanoscale to the macroscale, and expand their application in medical fields. The project is devoted to the deposition and property characterization of the Ag/Ti and Cu/Ti co-doped DLC thin films. The doped DLC films, due to their unique combination of properties, are promising materials to reduce surface forces and improve the tribological properties of micro/nano-devices. The wettability, surface energy, anti bacterial, and tribological properties of the various metal-doped DLC films are widely investigated. However, there are still a number of unsolved technological and physical issues. The research on the synthesis of co-doping of two metals into DLC films is very limited. A detailed fundamental understanding of the relationship between the used metal types and metal ratios on the structure, bonding type, wettability, antibacterial, mechanical, and nanotribological properties of DLC films is missing. The nanotribological properties of the metal-co-doped DLC thin films were previously not investigated. The investigation and determination of the relationship between the synthesis conditions of Ag/Ti-DLC and Cu/Ti-DLC coatings and the resulting properties will be performed and implemented. Novel co-doped DLC films with a reduced coefficient of friction, required surface morphology,improved adhesion, wettability, and free surface energy will be created.
Project funding:
Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects of Postdoctoral fellowships funded by the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania
Period of project implementation: 2024-02-01 - 2026-01-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
