Researchers at Rice University have used a computer simulation to calculate that carbyne, a monodimensional chain of carbon atoms, is twice as strong as carbon nanotubes and three times stiffer than diamond. If their findings are correct and the challenges posed by manufacturing it can be overcome, then carbyne could prove an incredibly useful material for a wide range of applications.
Carbyne, or linear acetylenic carbon, is yet another allotrope of carbon that grows in a single chain with alternating single and triple atomic bonds. As it is a single atom-thick chain and not a sheet (like graphene) or a hollow tube (like carbon nanotubes), it is considered a truly one-dimensional material. Scientists have long believed that this single dimension might give carbyne unparalleled mechanical and electrical properties.
Rice University theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his team set out to describe the properties of carbyne by using the information available from previous research and combining it within a computer simulation to shed a lot more light on the properties of this elusive material.
Source: Gizmag
