| A UH chemist's work on the friction of diamond surfaces was featured in a November issue of Science, one of the world's most prestigious academic journals.
Steven Baldelli, associate professor of chemistry, and his graduate student – Katherine Cimatu – were among the coauthors of the article titled "Nanoscale Friction Varied by Isotopic Shifting of Surface Vibrational Frequencies."
Cimatu is a Ph.D. student in chemistry and will graduate in May.
Baldelli and Cimatu were part of a research team led by University of Wisconsin professor Robert Carpick. Baldelli and Cimatu focused on verifying and measuring the replacement of hydrogen molecules with deuterium on a diamond surface using surface vibrational spectroscopy.
Replacing hydrogen with deuterium changes the surface's vibrational frequency, and thus, reduces friction, the study found. The research could impact the use of diamond coatings – which are hard and do not wear down easily – in mechanical settings. |
