Carbyne

First Direct Proof of Stable Carbyne, The World’s Strongest Material

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IN BRIEF

Scientists have managed to develop a novel method to grow stable, ultra-long 1D carbon chains of a material that is twice as strong as carbon nanotubes and far stronger than diamonds.

ELUSIVE CARBYNE

Elemental carbon is extremely versatile, and scientists have long been able to create new carbon allotropes that make for super durable and multi-functioning materials—such as everyone’s favorite material, graphene.

The “carbon family” is one very resourceful family. But even with all these developments, carbyne remained elusive. In fact, it is the only form of carbon that has not been synthesized, even though researchers have been studying its properties for over 50 years.

The reason for this is that carbyne is extremely unstable. This one-dimensional carbon chain was first discovered in 1885 by Adolf von Baeyer, who even stated that carbyne would remain elusive, as its high reactivity would always lead to its immediate destruction.

SO WHAT DO WE DO?

Carbyne’s mechanical properties are theorized to exceed all known materials. It’s assumed to be 2x stiffer than graphene, 40x stiffer than diamond, and have greater tensile strength than any other carbon material. With these kinds of properties, no wonder we’ve been trying to find ways to stabilize it.

And now, an international team of researchers have now found a way to mass produce carbyne.

The team took two layers of graphene, pressed them together, and rolled them into thin, double-walled carbon nanotubes. The tubes were then wrapped around the atoms. These nanotubes protect the carbyne chains from meeting imminent doom. Their research is published in the journal Nature Materials. 

SOURCE: Lei Shi/Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna

Before their discovery, the record-holding number of carbon atoms in one continuous chain was 100. Now, the record has been broken with an astounding 6,400 atoms utilizing this novel method – and the chain continues to be stable.

Also, carbyne’s electrical properties increase with its chain length. This means that researchers will be able to experiment with the material more effectively with success from the nanotubes. There is a huge wealth of possible applications using carbyne, and we’re excited to see what kinds of devices will arise with the delivery of this “miracle” material.

World’s strongest material acts like a tiny transistor .

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Graphene is a pure carbon material that’s just one atom thick. It’s 100 times stronger than steel, incredibly light, and it’s super-efficient at conducting heat and electricity. It’s a true wonder-material, but now there’s a new wonder-material in town: carbyne.

carbyne

While graphene is made up of a two-dimensional layer of atoms, carbyne is made up of a single chain of carbon atoms, and according to Sarah Zhang at Gizmodo, by a recent measure, it’s the new strongest material in the world.

Researchers at Rice University in the US have been investigating the potential of carbyne, and through computer modelling discovered that if they stretched this material by just 3 percent, it becomes an insulator instead of a conductor. This switch between insulating and conducting is exactly what transistors do, and transistors are the essential building blocks of modern electronics. This means carbyne could be used to make minuscule transistors to fit into new nanoscale electronics for use in medicine or to develop new energy solutions.

“But before we get too ahead of ourselves, it is important to note that carbyne is very difficult to make,” cautions Zhang at Gizmodo. “Graphene, on the other hand, is something you can make with Scotch tape. Carbyne is sometimes found in compressed graphite, but scientists have only been able to synthesise it in chains 44 atoms long so far. The new study of carbyne’s properties is based on computer models rather than physical chains – nevertheless, the results are cool enough to be worth pondering.”

Carbyne, aka linear acetylenic carbon.

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carbyne

First it was diamond, then graphene. These two structures have previously held the title of the world’s strongest material. Now, one of their family members has taken the crown.

new strongest material on earth

In a research paper published recently on Arxiv, a team from Rice University laid out the molecular schematics for Carbyne, aka linear acetylenic carbon. A supermaterial first theorized in 1967, its legitimacy has been disputed for the last 40 years. This time around the team figured out how to successfully synthesize and stabilize it at room temperature.  

The paper goes on to describe the remarkable atomic chain of Carbyne – a microscopic lattice similar to that of its close cousin, diamond. Carbyne, however, has a Young’s modulus 40 times that of diamond, making it the world’s hardest material. With extensive applications in nanotechnology, it could completely change the way scientists view systems with nanomechanical bases. The polyyne family has a new heavyweight champ.

carbyne strongest material in the world

Above: Carbyne under tension. (a) DFT calculations of energy as a function of strain ɛ. The electronic density of carbyne (polyyne) (b) in equilibrium and (c) under tension shows a more pronounced bond alternation in strained carbyne. (d) Bond length alternation and (e) band gap increase as a function of strain.

The results reveal remarkable tensile stiffness, twice that of graphene and carbon nanotubes, and a specific strength greater than any other known material. Potential mechanical and electrical applications are numerous, including a broad category of possible uses in the realm of super-strong and ultra-lightweight materials.