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Ling Xin

A strange thing happened when a team of scientists folded a series of ultra-thin sheets of graphene in their laboratory in China.
The researchers from the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics found that friction did not increase as the material got thicker. In fact, some of the thicker folds slid more easily.
The revelation was a bonus for the team – not only had they become the first to directly observe friction between solid materials at the quantum level, they had seen something that could help with the development of ultra-efficient machines and tiny devices that barely wear out.
“This is the first experimental evidence of quantum friction between two solid surfaces,” the team said on social media.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications this month, could help in designing low-power nanodevices and controlling friction in advanced quantum materials, according to the team.
The team traced the curious friction effect to how bending changed the way electrons moved inside the material, locking them into fixed energy levels and making it harder for motion to turn into heat.
From tyres gripping the road to creaking knees, friction is everywhere. For centuries, scientists thought it came from rough surfaces rubbing against each other, with microscopic bumps and sticky patches resisting motion and converting energy into heat.


That classical view works well at the everyday scale but breaks down when materials are just a few atoms thick. Even perfectly smooth surfaces, such as sheets of graphene or carbon nanotubes, can still produce friction.
One explanation is quantum friction: resistance that comes not from physical contact, but from how electrons inside materials respond to nearby movement. When one surface moves past another, tiny shifts in electric charge can lead to drag and energy loss, even without touching.
In 2022, researchers studying water flow through carbon nanotubes found that water moved faster through narrower tubes – the opposite of how it occurs in normal plumbing. They traced the effect to quantum friction: fewer electrons in the narrower tubes meant less “pushback” against the flowing water.
Building on that idea, the Chinese team built a system that allowed them to fold graphene at the nanoscale and measure friction under ultra-cold conditions.


As they added more layers to the fold, they noticed that friction did not follow classical rules. In some cases, the thicker folds glided even more easily, a clear sign that something else was at play.
The team discovered that bending the graphene created an internal strain that reorganised the motion of electrons. The electrons snapped into fixed energy levels – known as pseudo-Landau levels – which made it harder for energy to leak away as heat, effectively lowering friction.
The team said its experiment focused on a specially prepared graphene system at ultra-cold temperatures, with the next step to test whether similar effects occur in other materials and under more practical conditions.
Studying quantum friction across different materials and temperatures, they said, could help scientists better understand – and one day control – energy loss in real-world devices.


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Team at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics made unexpected finding while folding ultra-thin sheets of graphene


Team at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics made unexpected finding while folding ultra-thin sheets of graphene.


In a first, Chinese team captures rare quantum friction effect in folded graphene

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Team at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics made unexpected finding while folding ultra-thin sheets of graphene

Team at Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics made unexpected finding while folding ultra-thin sheets of graphene