For more than a decade, scientists have been trying with limited success to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphene (Next generation miracle material). However, this experiment is now over, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Scientists have long been interested in graphine because of its resemblance to the “great material” (Next generation miracle material) graphene – another form of carbon that is highly valued by the industry, whose research even won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. However, despite decades of work and theory, only a few fragments have emerged in the past.
Announced last week in Nature Synthesis, this research closes a long-standing gap in carbon materials science and potentially opens up new opportunities for electronics, optics and semiconductor materials research.
“The whole public, the whole industry is excited that this long-standing problem, if this imaginary material (Next generation miracle material), has finally been realized,” said Yiming Hu, lead author of the article and a graduate doctor of chemistry in 2022.
Scientists have long been interested in the production of new or novel carbon allotropes or forms of carbon, due to the usefulness of carbon in industry as well as its diversity.
There are several ways in which carbon allotropes can be formed depending on which sp2, sp3 and sp hybridize the carbon (or the different ways in which carbon atoms bond to other elements), and their corresponding bonds are used. . The best known carbon allotropes are graphite (used in tools such as pencils and batteries) and diamonds, which are made of carbon sp2 and carbon sp3.
Using traditional chemistry methods, scientists have successfully created various allotropes over the years, including fullerenes (whose discovery won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and graphene.
However, these methods do not allow the synthesis of different types of carbon at any type of large capacity, such as what is required for graphene, which makes the theoretical material – estimated to be unique. theoretical.
But it is also necessary for non-traditional leaders who are in the field to get to Wei Zhang’s laboratory team.
Zhang, a professor of chemistry at CU Boulder, studies reversible chemistry, a chemistry that allows oneself to correct bonds, which allows the formation of newly arranged structures, such as grids, as well as synthetic DNA-like polymers. After being approached, Zhang and his lab team decided to give it a try.
Graphene production is “a really old, long-standing issue, but because synthetic tools are limited, interest has waned,” said Hu, who holds a Ph.D. students in Zhang’s laboratory group commented. “We’re releasing the problem and using a new tool to solve an old problem that was so important.”
Use of a process called alkyne metathesis – an organic reaction involving the distribution or breakdown and reforming of alkyne chemical bonds (a type of hydrocarbon with at least one triple carbon). covalent bonding) – such as thermodynamics and kinetic control. The group has successfully developed: A material that can be the opposite of graphene conductivity but has control.
“There’s a big difference (between graphene and graphene), but in a good way,” Zhang said. “It could be another generation of great material. That’s why people are so excited. ”
While the material has been successfully manufactured, the team still wants to look at its specific details, including how the material is produced on a large scale and how it is handled.
“We’ve really tried to explore this new material from many dimensions, both experimental and theoretical, from the atomic level to real devices,” Zhang said in the next steps.
These efforts, in turn, should help consider how the electron conductive and optical properties of the material can be used for industrial applications such as lithium-ion batteries.
“We hope that in the future we can reduce costs and simplify the response process, and then we hope that people will benefit from our research,” Hu said.
It would never have been possible for Zhang without the support of an interdisciplinary team, adding: “Without the support of the Department of Physics, without the support of colleagues, this work would probably not have been possible.”
