Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition of Lubricating MoS₂ Films. Ferrous Substrates and Titanium Film Doping

MoS 2 thin films have been deposited onto 52100 steel substrates by aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition using the metal-organic precursor tetrakis(diethyl-dithiocarbamato)molybdenum(IV) ( 1 ). Analysis of the films indicates growth of an initial, highly crystalline FeS layer exhibiting preferred orientation parallel to the substrate, followed by growth of MoS 2 nanoparticles. Friction coefficients for MoS 2 -coated steel specimens reach 0.10 when tested at 100 °C in air. Tetrakis( tert- butylthiolato)titanium(IV) ( 2 ), dissolved with complex 1 in THF solutions, yields nanoparticle films of variable TiO 2 content as a result of solvent decomposition on MoS 2 and subsequent in situ reaction with the titanium precursor.