Improvement of tribological and anti-corrosive performance of MXene nanosheets by grafting polymer brush

Herein, the anti-corrosive polymer brush functionalized MXene (P-MBTS₂MA@MXene) was successfully prepared via surface-initiated polymerization. First, the dopamine initiator (DA-Br) can self-assemble onto MXene nanosheets formation of initiator modified MXene (PDA-Br@MXene) via spontaneous oxidative polymerization, then the corrosion inhibitor MBT derivative MBTS₂MA monomer was grafted onto MXene nanosheets through surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) to obtain polymer brush P-MBTS₂MA functionalized MXene (P-MBTS₂MA@MXene). The prepared P-MBTS₂MA@MXene served as lubricant additive, manifesting good tribological properties with a low COF of 0.098 % and 94.8 % wear-reduction, which is attributed to the shielding effect and protective film formed by P-MBTS₂MA@MXene. Additionally, the grafting P-MBTS₂MA endows MXene nanosheets with improved anti-corrosion property, which prevents further corrosion of the metal surface via releasing corrosion resistance molecule MBT.