Low stoichiometry, low crystallinity, low hardness and incongruencies involving the reported microstructure have limited the applicability of TMD-C (Transition metal dichalcogenides with carbon) solid-lubricant coatings. In this work, optimized Mo–Se–C coatings were deposited using confocal plasma magnetron sputtering to overcome the above-mentioned issues. Two different approaches were used; MoSe₂ target powered by DC (direct current) or RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering. Carbon was always added by DC magnetron sputtering. Wavelength dispersive spectroscopy displayed Se/Mo stoichiometry of ~2, values higher than the literature. The Se/Mo ratio for RF-deposited coatings was lower than for their DC counterparts. Scanning electron microscopy showed that irrespective of the low carbon additions, the Mo–Se–C coatings were highly compact with no vestiges of columnar growth due to optimal bombardment of sputtered species. Application of substrate bias further improved compactness at the expense of lower Se/Mo ratio. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of MoSe₂ crystals, and (002) basal planes. Even very low carbon additions led to an improvement of the hardness of the coatings. The work reports a comparison between RF and DC sputtering of MoSe₂ coatings with carbon and provides a guideline to optimize the composition, morphology, structure, and mechanical properties.

Palygorskite is a natural fibrous clay mineral that can be used in several applications, for which colloidal stability in aqueous suspensions is a key point to improve its performance. In this study, methods of magnetic stirring, high-speed shearing, and ultrasonication, as well as different chemical dispersants, combined with these methods, namely carboxymethylcellulose, alginate, polyphosphate, and polyacrylate, were used to improve the dispersibility and the formation of stable suspensions of palygorskite in different conditions of pH. The stability and particle size of suspensions with a low concentration of palygorskite were evaluated by visual inspection, optical and electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential measurements. Moreover, the palygorskite used in this work was initially characterized for its mineralogical, chemical, physical, and morphological properties. It was found that more stable suspensions were produced with ultrasonication compared to the other two physical treatments, with magnetic stirring being inefficient in all tested cases, and for higher pH values (pH of 12 and pH of 8, the natural pH of the clay) when compared to lower pH values (pH of 3). Remarkably, combined with ultrasonication, carboxymethylcellulose or in a lesser extent polyphosphate at near neutral pH allowed for the disaggregation of crystal bundles of palygorskite into individualized crystals. These results may be helpful to optimize the performance of palygorskite in several domains where it is applied.