Donato, Mariana T.Deuermeier, JonasColaço, RogérioBranco, Luís C.Saramago, Benilde2023-06-292023-06-292023-03-161420-3049PURE: 64819888PURE UUID: 869b683a-106a-43fe-a755-6e532d806186Scopus: 85151107883WOS: 000959110400001PubMed: 36985652PubMedCentral: PMC10057895http://hdl.handle.net/10362/154616Funding Information: The work was financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the projects UIDB/00100/2020, UIDP/00100/2020 and IMS-LA/P/0056/2020 and through the PhD grant SFRH/BD/140079/2018 from Mariana Donato. Additionally, this work was financed by national funds from FCT in the scope of the projects UIDB/50022/2020 (IDMEC/LAETA) and LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020 and UIDB/50025/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication—i3N. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.The motivation for this work was to develop new protic ionic liquids (PILs) as additives for the lubrication of micro and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS). Ten PILs based on the combination of methylimidazolium ([MIMH]), 4-picolinium ([4-picH]), pyridinium ([PyrH]), 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]-undec-7-ene-8-ium ([DBUH]) and tetramethylguanidinium ([TMGH]) cations with hydrogen sulfate([HSO4]) and mesylate ([MeSO3]) anions were tested as additives in polyethylene glycol (PEG200) to lubricate steel/silicon and silicon/silicon contacts. The best additive was [4-picH][HSO4], which adsorbed strongly on the Si surface, leading to a protective film that reduced wear by up to 15 times compared to PEG200.163404765engfrictionlubricant additivesMEMS/NEMSprotic ionic liquidssiliconwearAnalytical ChemistryChemistry (miscellaneous)Molecular MedicinePharmaceutical ScienceDrug DiscoveryPhysical and Theoretical ChemistryOrganic Chemistryjournal article10.3390/molecules28062678https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85151107883