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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nanoscale electric performance of NiO thin films in grain boundary and grain face.

PeakForce tunnel atomic force is applied to visualize the nanoscale current imaging of the NiO thin film on fluorine tin oxide substrate.

The results show that the grain boundary has a significant impact on the nanoscale current of the NiO film. The electronic conductivity and in grain boundary is higher than that of the NiO film in grain face. The width of the conductive zone in the NiO film over grain boundaries is ∼ 60 nm. The tunnel current between the tip and the NiO film is consistent with the Fowler–Nordheim tunnel model.

The higher tunnel current in grain boundary is probably attributed to the enhanced energy band bending and adhesion force.

The purpose of this paper is to prove the self‐repairing Cu film of Cu‐DDP additive in base lubricating oil.

Cu nanoparticles coated with dialkydithiophosphate (Coded as Cu‐DDP) were synthesized in situ by redox method. The size and structure of Cu‐DDP were characterized using transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) and electronic diffraction (ED) analysis. The self‐repairing performance of Cu‐DDP as additive in base lubricating oil was evaluated by MRH‐3 stock‐on‐ring testing machine. Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), UMT‐2 tribometer, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy‐dispersive spectrum (EDS) were used to study the self‐repairing Cu film on the stock.

The test results showed that the modified Cu‐DDP additive in base lubricating oil exhibited excellent anti‐wear and friction‐reducing properties, as well as good self‐repairing performance.

The thickness of the self‐repairing Cu film was unknown, and the relationship between thickness of the Cu film and load, time, rotation velocity was still necessary to investigate.

The Cu‐DDP additive was involved P and S elements, therefore, it is still promising to seek environment friendly additive without P and S elements.

For the first time, MRH‐3 stock‐on‐ring testing machine, Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), UMT‐2 tribometer, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and energy‐dispersive spectrum (EDS) were widely used to study the self‐repairing Cu film on the stock.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize oil-soluble copper (Cu) nanoparticles modified with free phosphorus and sulfur modifier and investigate its tribological properties as environment-friendly lubricating oil additives.

To improve the anti-oxidation properties of these nanoparticles, two kinds of surface modifiers, oleic acid and oleylamine were used simultaneously. The morphology, composition, structure and thermal properties of as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis. The tribological properties of as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles as an additive in liquid paraffin were evaluated with a four-ball friction and wear tester.

It has been found that an as-synthesized Cu nanoparticle has a size of 2-5 nm and can be well dispersed in organic solvents. Tribological properties evaluation results show that as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles possess excellent anti-wear properties as an additive in liquid paraffin. The reason lies in that as-synthesized surface-capped Cu nanoparticles are able to deposit on sliding steel surface and form a low-shearing-strength protective layer thereon, showing promising application as an environmentally acceptable lubricating oil additive, owing to its free phosphorus and sulfur elements characteristics.

Oil-soluble surface-modified Cu nanoparticles without phosphorus and sulfur were synthesized and its tribological properties as lubricating oil additives were also investigated in this paper. These results could be very helpful for application of Cu nanoparticles as environment-friendly lubricating oil additives.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the I‐V characteristics of ZnO film on Si substrates with Ag buffer layer by conductive atomic force (C‐AFM).

An Ag buffer layer and Zn film was first deposited on silicon substrate by RF‐sputtering deposition method from high pure Ag and Zn target, respectively. Then, the deposited film was sintered in air at 500°C for 1 h.

The structures and morphologies of the prepared films were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and C‐AFM. The results show that the prepared ZnO films with Ag buffer layer have a good crystallinity and surface morphology. Interestingly, the I‐V curve of ZnO film exhibited typical characteristics of semi‐conductive oxide under the conductive Ag buffer layer.

The paper demonstrates, by C‐AFM, that the ZnO/Ag‐buffer/Si exhibits excellent crystal structure, morphology and typical I‐V characteristics.

The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate the influence of a 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane–polyacrylic acid (amino propyl silane (APS)-PAA) buffer layer on the tribological performance of copper sulfide (CuS) thin film on silicon (Si) substrate.

The APS-PAA buffer layer was first deposited on Si substrate by a self-assembling method. Then, the deposited film was coated by a CuS film by a successive ionic layer absorption and reaction (SILAR) method. The structures and morphologies of the prepared films were characterized by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the prepared CuS film with a PAA-APS double layer had a good crystallinity and surface morphology. The tribological performance of the prepared film was analyzed on UMT-2 tribometer and scanning electric microscope.

With use of an APS-PAA buffer layer, the CuS thin films became compact, smooth and uniform. The tribological performance of the CuS film was greatly enhanced by using an APS-PAA buffer layer.

The paper is the first to demonstrate that the CuS film exhibited enhanced structure, morphology and tribological characteristics by using an APS-PAA buffer layer.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and employee cross-team knowledge sharing via the differentiating mediating effects of cognitive and affective trust in colleagues.

Multi-source and multi-wave data were collected from 214 dyads of employees and their supervisors. Linear regression was employed to examine the hypotheses.

Ethical leadership positively predicts employee cross-team knowledge sharing. Affective trust in colleagues mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee cross-team knowledge sharing, whereas cognitive trust in colleagues does not. The hypothesis – the mediating effect of affective trust in colleagues between ethical leadership and cross-team knowledge sharing is greater than that of cognitive trust in colleagues – is not supported.

This study extends understanding of the influence of ethical leadership on cross-team knowledge sharing. It further differentiates cognitive and affective trust in colleagues between ethical leadership and cross-team knowledge sharing. These findings are valuable for improving the research of leadership practices and knowledge sharing.

Employee’s service innovative behavior lays the groundwork for bottom-up innovation and ongoing service improvement in service firms. Therefore, it is vital for service organizations to understand the antecedents of employees service innovative behavior. Drawing upon the social cognitive theory, this study aims to develop a research model that examines the effects of ethical and entrepreneurial leadership on service innovative behavior.

Data were collected from 178 managers and 415 employees working in 178 small- and medium-sized (SME) hotels in Vietnam.

The findings showed that ethical leadership has direct and indirect effects on service innovative behavior, while entrepreneurial leadership only influences service innovative behavior via intrinsic motivation. In addition, trust in leader moderates the effect of intrinsic motivation on service innovative behavior

The study advances current scholarly research on leadership by combining the two areas of entrepreneurial and ethical leadership into one theoretical model and examines how these leadership styles generate hospitality employees’ service innovative behavior through the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation and the moderating effect of trust in leader.

The findings of this research offer significant implications for SME hotels and their managers. In their recruitment processes, hotels should search for particular personality traits, which have been found to predict ethical and entrepreneurial leadership. Hospitality firms also need to encourage communication between leaders and co-workers to enhance employees’ intrinsic motivation.

There are calls for research to examine whether both entrepreneurial and ethical leadership styles can be integrated to enhance employees’ positive outcomes. Evidence about the mechanism linking entrepreneurial and ethical leadership to service innovative behavior is limited. With this stated, the current study makes significant contribution to leadership and innovation literature by filling in these voids.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between servant leadership and life satisfaction through the mediating role of workplace positive affect (WPA), and the moderating roles of collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy.

Using a sample of 304 employees in a two-wave survey, the hypotheses were demonstrated with hierarchical regression analyses.

The results revealed that servant leadership was positively related to employee life satisfaction, and WPA served as a mediator between them. Moreover, collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy moderated the relationship between servant leadership and WPA, and the indirect effect of servant leadership on life satisfaction via WPA.

The time-lagged research design of this study may limit the ability to draw causal conclusions. Moreover, as this research was conducted in a Chinese context, the question of the generalizability of our findings calls for more attention.

Leaders are encouraged to adopt the servant leadership style to facilitate employee life satisfaction and organizations should select and recruit managers with servant leadership qualities. Furthermore, because employees’ collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy moderate the effects of servant leadership on followers’ outcomes, managers need to take individual differences into consideration when they implement managerial strategy.

This research contributed to a burgeoning stream of servant leadership literature by investigating the functions of servant leadership in promoting life satisfaction, and exploring the affective mechanism linking servant leadership and life satisfaction as well as the boundary conditions of collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy.

The CL60 steel wheels of metro vehicles running on a specific line need frequent reprofiling due to rapid wear. Considering this problem, a new material for metro wheels was designed. The friction and wear properties of the new material were studied, to reduce the wear rate and extend the service life of metro wheels.

Wheel specimens made of the two steel materials were tested using a GPM-60 wear tester under laboratory conditions. A field test was conducted on a specific metro line to track the wear in wheels made of the new material and CL60 steel wheels.

Under the laboratory conditions, the wear loss in the new material was 24.44% lower than that in CL60 steel. The field test revealed that compared to CL60 steel wheels, the new CL60 steel wheels showed a 19.42% decrease in tread wear on average. The field measurements for the wheels made of the new material are consistent with the results of laboratory simulation, suggesting relatively high wear resistance of the new material.

The results of the study can provide guidance on how to properly select steel material for metro wheels to avoid rapid wear and frequent reprofiling and reduce operating costs.

A new material for metro wheels was designed and developed by optimizing the content of Cr, Si, Mn, V and other elements. This material proved to have better wear resistance in both laboratory and field testing.

Drawing on the resource gain development (RGD) perspective, this study is aimed to examine how servant leadership as an environmental resource and general self-esteem as a personal resource influence employees' family performance through work-to-family facilitation (WFF) and explore the moderating effects of gender and Chinese traditionality on the relationship between servant leadership and WFF.

Two-wave data were collected from 369 employees in China. The structural equation model and path analysis were used to analyze the data.

The results confirm that WFF mediates the effects of servant leadership and employees' general self-esteem on employees' family performance. Gender and Chinese traditionality moderate the relationship between servant leadership and WFF.

This study contributes to existing research by revealing how specific environmental resources (servant leadership) and personal resources (general self-esteem) impact employee family performance through WFF; it also identifies gender and Chinese traditionality as demand characteristics which moderate the effect of environmental resources on WFF.