The present disclosure belongs to the technical field of functional films, and in particular relates to a self-lubricating film over wide temperature ranges in vacuum and a preparation method and use thereof. The present disclosure provides a self-lubricating film over wide temperature ranges in vacuum, including: a bonding layer, a transition layer and a lubricating layer laminated in sequence, wherein the bonding layer has a chemical composition of Ti; the transition layer has a chemical composition of Ti and TiB.sub.2; the lubricating layer has a chemical composition of Ti, TiB.sub.2 and MoS.sub.2. In the present disclosure, when the self-lubricating films over wide temperature ranges in vacuum are exposed to different temperatures, different components of Ti, TiB.sub.2 and MoS.sub.2 in the films may be correspondingly excited to enrich in frictional contact areas. The composition of each layer synergistically exerts a lubricating effect and improves the tribological properties and stability of the self-lubricating film over wide temperature ranges in vacuum in a vacuum over a wide temperature range.

A sliding element for an internal combustion engine may include a base material having an annular external surface. The external surface may include a bonding layer, a first layer of coating, and a second layer of coating sequentially disposed thereon. The first layer of coating and the second layer of coating may include hard amorphous carbon (DLC) of a combined matrix having a plurality of sp3/sp2 bonds. The first layer of coating may include 45% sp3 bonds or less and may have a thickness of at least 10 micrometers. The second layer of coating may include at least 55% sp3 bonds and may have a thickness of at least 3 micrometers.

A method for producing an aluminum layer is provided. The method includes depositing a metallic seed layer on a substrate, the seed layer having a thickness of not more than 5 nm, and also includes applying the aluminum layer to the seed layer, wherein the aluminum layer has a thickness of more than 30 nm. Further, an optical element, which can be a mirror layer, is provided including the metallic seed layer and the aluminum layer.

A method of fabricating a carbon nanotube (“CNT”) array includes providing a substrate with a CNT catalyst disposed on a surface of the substrate, heating the CNT catalyst to an annealing temperature, exposing the CNT catalyst to a CNT precursor for an exposure period to pre-load the CNT catalyst, and exposing the pre-loaded CNT catalyst to a carbon source for a growth period to form the CNT array. The formed CNT array comprises a plurality of CNT bundles that are aligned with one another in an alignment direction. At least one of the plurality of bundles comprises an average structural factor of 1.5 or less along an entirety of the length thereof.

An exterior material of a home appliance having improved corrosion resistance and fingerprint resistance by changing a treatment method of a surface of the exterior material, and the home appliance including the same, and a manufacturing method therefor are provided. The method of manufacturing the exterior material of the home appliance, the method including applying a diamond like carbon (DLC) coating on the substrate to form a DLC coating layer; and conducting anti-fingerprint coating to form the anti-fingerprint coating on the DLC coating layer.

A substrate is coated with a multi-layer coating, comprising in order: (i) a first functional layer comprising ta-C, (ii) a second functional layer comprising ta-C, (iii) (a) a third functional layer comprising ta-C and a first intermediate layer comprising a carbide of a first element, or (b) a first intermediate layer comprising a carbide of a first element, and a second intermediate layer comprising the first element, wherein the ta-C has a hydrogen content less than 10% and an sp2 content less than 30%; wherein (i) the Young's modulus or (ii) the hardness or (iii) both the Young's modulus and the hardness independently stay the same or increase from layer to layer in (iii) (a) from the first intermediate layer to the first functional layer, or in (iii) (b) from the second intermediate layer to the first functional layer.

A bipolar plate for a PEM hydrogen fuel cell is coated with a carbon-containing coating, the carbon-containing coating comprising in order: a) a titanium seed layer; b) a titanium nitride interfacial layer; and c) a a-C top layer, and wherein the bipolar plate is formed from stainless steel. Methods for making such coated plates are described. The a-C has a density of greater than 2.0 g/cm3, a molar hydrogen content of 5% or less, an sp2 carbon content of 40% to 80% and an sp3 carbon content of 20% to 60%. The coated plates possess good electrical conductivity and are resistant to corrosion.

The method for treatment of parts, characterized in that it comprises the stages of applying an electrolytic chromium plating layer on a part; applying a coating over the entire outer surface of the part; selective stripping of the coating in order to leave the part with at least one coated portion and at least one uncoated portion; carrying out a selective etching on the layer in at least one part of the uncoated portion; metallization of the entire surface of the part; and removal of the coating.

The invention relates to a process for preparation of an unpassivated cantilever comprising the steps of: 1) providing a silicon cantilever sensor having two sides; 2) coating one side of the cantilever with at least a gold layer; and 3) functionalizing both sides of the cantilever with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of a probe molecule by incubating the cantilever in a solution having a concentration of the probe molecule of between 1 to 1000 μM.

The invention also relates to an unpassivated cantilever sensor comprising a silicon layer coated on one side with a coating comprising Au and being uncoated or unpassivated on the opposite side, wherein the Au coated surface comprises a self-assembled monolayer of a probe molecule and wherein the surface area occupied per probe molecule is in the range 0.4-1.5 nm.sup.2.

A method of forming a superconductor tape, includes depositing a superconductor layer on a substrate, forming a metal layer comprising a first metal on a surface of the superconductor layer, and implanting an alloy species into the metal layer where the first metal forms a metal alloy after the implanting the alloy species.