Massive Transfer and Assembly of Microscale Superlubric Materials

Structural superlubricity (SSL) offers a revolutionary solution to the challenges of friction and wear. However, current transfer methods for superlubric materials rely on probe-based techniques that are limited to individual, one-by-one transfers. Moreover, the maximum achievable scale of SSL is constrained by the single-crystal size and defect distribution of the material. To enable the mass production of devices and the scaling of SSL contact areas, scalable transfer and assembly techniques are critically needed. Here, we introduce a batch “slide-and-lift” dry transfer technique that leverages the sliding motion of polydimethylsiloxane stamps to modulate adhesion at van der Waals interfaces, enabling the simultaneous transfer of hundreds of sliders. This technique accommodates sliders of various sizes and shapes while ensuring their surfaces remain ultraclean and defect-free. Transferred slider arrays are successfully released onto various substrates, maintaining their superlubric properties. Furthermore, these transferred sliders are assembled to achieve larger-scale SSL through multiphoton polymerization printing, where connected microscale sliders form a basic unit that can theoretically be scaled to any size and shape for SSL applications. Our approach facilitates the development of SSL-based devices and the realization of macroscale SSL. Additionally, it may inspire novel sliding-based transfer methods for two-dimensional materials by leveraging their inherent sliding characteristics.