Carbon Nanotubes: Bearing Stress Like Never Before

Berkeley Scientific: the journal of young scientists

article

Aditya Limaye¹ 

[1] University of California

关键词: Carbon Nanotubes;   

DOI  :  10.5070/BS3181020642

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: University of California, Berkeley

【 摘 要 】

Carbon, element number six, is often consideredthe backbone of life on Earth. With four valence electrons and many different bonding geometries, carbonis present in all biological macromolecules and playsan integral role in fundamental biological processes,making it truly deserving of its own field, organicchemistry. While carbon is usually anecdotally knownfor its abundance in biological systems, carbon’s manybonding geometries and versatile electronic configurations make it an exceptional material for syntheticmolecules for physical applications, such as buildingmaterials or semiconductors. Serious investigationinto carbon for physical applications began in 1985,when a group of researchers at Rice university designed a “buckyball,” a molecule known as buckminsterfullerene with the chemical formula C60 arrangedin a structure akin to a soccer ball, with six and fivemembered rings positioned adjacent to each other. Infact, buckminsterfullerene, named after the Americanarchitect R. Buckminster Fuller, who built geodesicdomes resembling the molecule’s shape, was onlyone molecule in a class of many fullerenes, moleculesmade entirely out of carbon, arranged in the shape ofa hollow sphere or tube. After the 1996 Nobel Prize inChemistry was awarded to a team for the discovery offullerenes, research into the fullerenes was taken up inearnest by much of the scientific community.

【 授权许可】

Unknown