Fig. 3: Pressure-assisted bonding and wear at the WO3/graphite interface.
From: Robust structural superlubricity under gigapascal pressures
a, b Model of the WO3/graphite contact. c Electron localization function (ELF) showing the evolution of structural responses and interfacial bonding states with pressure. The dashed lines show the atom pairs with the strongest interaction. d Pressure-displacement relation obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. e Shear stress-displacement relation at different pressure levels. f The step-wear process demonstrated via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, where pressure-assisted bonding triggers wear through shear-induced tearing. The puckering effect at the contact front is caused by accumulated in-plane deformation of the graphene layer, which prefers to bend instead of being compressed. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
