Experts from South Korea and China have created a new type of carbon by heating fullerene with lithium nitride. The new type of carbon is similar to schwartzite, but still different.

what is known

The so-called “schwarzite” or sp2-hybrid carbon with negative curvature was theoretically predicted in the 19th century. According to the research, it was and continues to be the dream of scientists in the field of carbon materials, but there have been problems in obtaining it. Although this type of carbon can be synthesized in the pores of zeolites, which are crystalline forms of silicon dioxide, this method is not ideal as some pores are very small.

• It is based on new material C60 fullerene powder is mixed with lithium nitride and then heated under pressure to medium temperatures to a single atmosphere.
• Lithium nitride catalyzes the breaking of carbon bonds in C60.
• New CC bonds have already been formed with neighboring C60 molecules.
• The electron transfer process triggers the formation of a new type of carbon that scientists call it. “long-range regular porous carbon” (LOPC).

The LOPC consists of “defective C60 cells” interconnected with distant periodicity. That is, each of the torn C60 cells is still focused on the nodal points of the face-centered cubic lattice, but they are somehow “open” and form connections with each other. This is somewhat unusual – there is still some kind of long-term periodic pattern, but not every broken C60 cell is the same as its neighbors.

scientists discovers the properties of the new material and cannot yet name the areas in which it can be applied, however, since LOPC is electrically conductive, it can be, for example, energy harvesting, conversion and storage. Scientists note that the new material is characterized by good scalability – synthesis can be easily increased to kilograms.

It’s still not schwarzite after all, so the researchers will continue to study.