Gebeshuber Ille C, Stachelberger Herbert, Drack Manfred
Austrian Center of Competence for Tribology AC2 T research GmbH, Viktor Kaplan-Strasse 2, A-2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2005 Jan;5(1):79-87. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2005.018.
Tribology is the branch of engineering that deals with the interaction of surfaces in relative motion (as in bearings or gears): their design, friction, adhesion, lubrication and wear. Continuous miniaturization of technological devices like hard disc drives and biosensors increases the necessity for the fundamental understanding of tribological phenomena at the micro- and nanoscale. Biological systems show optimized performance also at this scale. Examples for biological friction systems at different length scales include bacterial flagella, joints, articular cartilage and muscle connective tissues. Scanning probe microscopy opened the nanocosmos to engineers: not only is microscopy now possible on the atomic scale, but even manipulation of single atoms and molecules can be performed with unprecedented precision. As opposed to this top-down approach, biological systems excel in bottom-up nanotechnology. Our model system for bionanotribological investigations are diatoms, for they are small, highly reproductive, and since they are transparent, they are accessible with different kinds of optical microscopy methods. Furthermore, certain diatoms have proved to be rewarding samples for mechanical and topological in vivo investigations on the nanoscale. There are several diatom species that actively move (e.g. Bacillaria paxillifer forms colonies in which the single cells slide against each other) or which can, as cell colonies, be elongated by as much as a major fraction of their original length (e.g. Ellerbeckia arenaria colonies can be reversibly elongated by one third of their original length). Therefore, we assume that some sort of lubrication of interactive surfaces is present in these species. Current studies in diatom bionanotribology comprise techniques like atomic force microscopy, histochemical analysis, infrared spectrometry, molecular spectroscopy and confocal infrared microscopy.
摩擦学是工程学的一个分支，研究相对运动表面之间的相互作用（如在轴承或齿轮中）：包括表面设计、摩擦、粘附、润滑和磨损。硬盘驱动器和生物传感器等技术设备的持续小型化，增加了从根本上理解微观和纳米尺度摩擦学现象的必要性。生物系统在这个尺度上也展现出了优化的性能。不同长度尺度下生物摩擦系统的例子包括细菌鞭毛、关节、关节软骨和肌肉结缔组织。扫描探针显微镜为工程师们打开了纳米世界的大门：现在不仅可以在原子尺度上进行显微镜观察，甚至可以以前所未有的精度对单个原子和分子进行操纵。与这种自上而下的方法相反，生物系统在自下而上的纳米技术方面表现出色。我们用于生物纳米摩擦学研究的模型系统是硅藻，因为它们体积小、繁殖力强，而且由于它们是透明的，可以用不同类型的光学显微镜方法进行观察。此外，某些硅藻已被证明是进行纳米尺度机械和拓扑体内研究的理想样本。有几种硅藻物种能够主动移动（例如，复瓦小环藻形成群体，其中单个细胞相互滑动），或者作为细胞群体可以被拉长至其原始长度的很大一部分（例如，沙生埃氏藻群体可以可逆地拉长其原始长度的三分之一）。因此，我们假设在这些物种中存在某种交互式表面润滑。目前硅藻生物纳米摩擦学的研究包括原子力显微镜、组织化学分析、红外光谱、分子光谱和共聚焦红外显微镜等技术。
