  The understanding of tribo- and electro-chemical phenomenons on the molecular
level at a sliding interface is a field of growing interest. Fundamental
chemical and physical insights of sliding surfaces are crucial for
understanding wear at an interface, particularly for nano or micro scale
devices operating at high sliding speeds. A complete investigation of the
electrochemical effects on high sliding speed interfaces requires a precise
monitoring of both the associated wear and surface chemical reactions at the
interface. Here, we demonstrate that head-disk interface inside a commercial
magnetic storage hard disk drive provides a unique system for such studies. The
results obtained shows that the voltage assisted electrochemical wear lead to
asymmetric wear on either side of sliding interface.
