【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】Breakthroughs achieved in the research on polymer water-lubricating materials at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics

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Breakthrough Achieved in Research on Polymer Water-Lubricating Materials at Lanzhou Institute of Chemistry 2025-08-15 Recently, the National Key Laboratory of Lubrication Materials at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made significant progress in the field of polymer water-lubricating materials. The high-load-bearing, long-lasting polymer water-lubricating materials developed by this laboratory open up new possibilities for applications in engineering and medical fields. The relevant research findings have been published in Nature Communications and Matter, respectively. Polymer water-lubricating materials have attracted considerable attention due to their wide application in engineering and medical fields. However, issues such as mechanical deformation, water loss, and mechanical instability in the lubricant during operation have consistently hindered the improvement of its performance. In particular, achieving a balance between high load capacity and long-lasting lubrication and friction reduction represents a major challenge in this industry. To address this challenge, inspired by the natural mechanism of continuous lubrication in earthworms, the research team successfully developed a super-lubricating polymer gel material based on trace lubricants. By integrating advanced techniques such as surface-controlled chemical etching, in-situ wrinkling, laser microfabrication, and balanced swelling for pore closure, this material enables the fabrication of biomimetic multi-level structured superlubricating polymer gel materials. Experimental data show that this material exhibits an ultra-low friction coefficient at high contact pressures (11.32 MPa), and shows no surface wear after 100,000 cycles of friction, setting a record for the highest load-bearing capacity among polymer gel-based superlubricant materials on a macroscopic scale. What is even more remarkable is that under quasi-wet testing conditions, only 5 microliters of lubricant are required for this material to achieve continuous lubrication (3700 cycles). Building on the resolution of the challenges related to the ultra-high load-bearing capacity and mechanical robustness with superlubricity in polymer gel materials, researchers have shifted their focus to addressing the issue of the material’s long-term mechanical stability in harsh saline environments. Using polyvinyl alcohol as a raw material, they developed polymer superlubricating gel materials with exceptional resistance to swelling and mechanical robustness through innovative strategies. This material performs excellently in complex media, providing a reliable solution for practical application scenarios such as seawater or physiological fluids. Experimental data show that this material exhibits an extremely high fatigue threshold (843.0 J/m2) ； It maintains long-term mechanical stability and an ultra-low swelling rate (less than 2%) even after being immersed in phosphate-buffered solution for over 460 days ； After 100,000 sliding friction cycles under high contact stress, the friction coefficient remained at an extremely low level. Animal implantation tests have shown that this polymer gel material possesses good biocompatibility, and can be used as a robust water-lubricating coating on the surfaces of joint implants made from various materials such as titanium alloy and stainless steel, thereby enabling effective lubrication and friction reduction. This achievement provides an important material foundation for the development of a new generation of self-lubricating devices.