Title: Atomistic modelling of friction of Cu and Au nanoparticles adsorbed on graphene
Author(s):

	A.V. Khomenko (Department of Complex Systems Modeling, Sumy State University, 2 Rimskii-Korsakov St., 40007 Sumy, Ukraine; Peter Grünberg Institut-1, Forschungszentrum-Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany) ,
	N.V. Prodanov (Department of Complex Systems Modeling, Sumy State University, 2 Rimskii-Korsakov St., 40007 Sumy, Ukraine; Jülich Supercomputing Center, Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum-Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Universit\at des Saarlandes, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany) ,
	B.N.J. Persson (Peter Grünberg Institut-1, Forschungszentrum-Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany)

We present classical molecular dynamics calculations of the behavior of copper and gold nanoparticles on a graphene sheet, sheared with a constant applied force F_a. The force F_s acting on the particle from the substrate depends on the material of the nanoparticles (Au or Cu), and exhibits a sawtooth dependency on time, which we attribute to local commensurability between the metal nanoparticle surface atomic positions with the graphene lattice. The time-averaged value of F_s (the friction force) acting on Au nanoparticles increases linearly with the contact area, having slopes close to the experimentally observable ones. A qualitative model is proposed to explain the observed results.

Key words: nanotribology, molecular dynamics, nanoparticle, friction force, atomic force microscopy, graphene
PACS: 46.55.+d, 62.20.Qp, 81.40.Pq, 68.35.Af, 68.37.Ps, 61.72.Hh

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