title: Benzene-derived carbon nanothreads.
abstract: Low-dimensional carbon nanomaterials such as fullerenes, nanotubes, graphene and diamondoids have extraordinary physical and chemical properties. Compression-induced polymerization of aromatic molecules could provide a viable synthetic route to ordered carbon nanomaterials, but despite almost a century of study this approach has produced only amorphous products. Here we report recovery to ambient pressure of macroscopic quantities of a crystalline one- dimensional sp(3) carbon nanomaterial formed by high-pressure solid-state reaction of benzene. X-ray and neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, solid-state NMR, transmission electron microscopy and first-principles calculations reveal close- packed bundles of subnanometre-diameter sp(3)-bonded carbon threads capped with hydrogen, crystalline in two dimensions and short-range ordered in the third. These nanothreads promise extraordinary properties such as strength and stiffness higher than that of sp(2) carbon nanotubes or conventional high-strength polymers. They may be the first member of a new class of ordered sp(3) nanomaterials synthesized by kinetic control of high-pressure solid-state reactions.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Fitzgibbons
authors.affiliation: Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC 20015, USA.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guthrie
authors.affiliation: 1] Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: En-shi
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [3] Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [4] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Crespi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Davidowski
authors.affiliation: Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington DC 20015, USA.
authors.forename: George D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Cody
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: Nasim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alem
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA [2] Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.
authors.forename: John V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Badding