Wear of supported graphene

While graphite is known to be a good solid state lubricant and even shows almost vanishing friction under some circumstances [1], there is only poor knowledge about the tribological properties of graphene. It has an extraordinary high breaking strength and could therefore be used as the thinnest possible wear protection and lubrication layer. Experimental investigation of the behavior of graphene can be challenging since understanding most of its properties requires investigations on atomic length scales. For this reason it is almost impossible to simultaneously apply mechanical load to a graphene covered surface and monitor its structural changes. Atomistic simulations offer an opportunity to overcome these deficiencies and to explain signals observed in experiments. In this work we investigate the friction and wear properties of single graphene sheets on top of Platinum surfaces. We compare experimental Resuls with our simulation and use the mechanisms observed in our simulations to interpret experimental findings.