Hardness is a physical property that represents a substance's ability to resist being scratched or deformed. Hardness can be measured by different methods, common ones include Vickers hardness, Mohs hardness, Brinell hardness, etc. Among them, Mohs hardness is the simplest and most commonly used one. It ranks different substances on a scale from 1 to 10 based on whether they can scratch each other. 1 represents the softest and 10 represents the hardest. For example, nails have a Mohs hardness of 2.5, iron has a Mohs hardness of 4.5, and diamonds have a Mohs hardness of 10.
Although diamond is the hardest substance in nature, it does not mean that it is absolute. Carboyne is harder than diamond, and the hardest substance in the world is sulfide carbyne. It is said that its hardness is almost 200 times harder than the steel we are familiar with, and even about 40 times the hardness of diamond, so it is also known as It is called the hardest in the world, and its ductility and tensile strength are also very high, even comparable to graphene, so this material has a very critical use in the production and development of high-strength equipment in the future.
Carboynes are chains of carbon atoms held together by double bonds or alternating single and triple bonds. In 1885, German organic chemist Adolf von Beyer first proposed the concept of carbyne, which he described as an infinitely long carbon chain of alternating carbon-carbon single and triple bonds. But he also warned that it would be difficult to create because it is so unstable. Previously, American scientists pointed out through theoretical calculations that carbyne, a one-dimensional linear ribbon of carbon atoms, should be harder and stronger than any known material. It has huge tensile strength and hardness, and is 40 times harder than diamond. , twice as much as graphene, so it can be used to make ultra-sturdy devices. In addition, it has the unique property of transforming from a conductor to an insulator when stretched by only 3%, so it has attracted widespread attention in the field of electronic equipment.
Breakthroughs in observing carbynes occurred in the late 20th and early 21st centuries due to advances in nanotechnology and spectroscopy. In the 1980s, astronomers detected the presence of linear carbon chains in interstellar space. These observations provided indirect insights into carbyne-like structures. evidence and opens up new avenues for its exploration.
Carboyne-like chains have been indirectly observed in carbon nanotubes, where they form defects or partial structures along the tube walls. The discovery of these chains provides valuable insights into the structural properties of carbyne, graphene nanoribbons, and the narrow structure of graphene. bars, were found to exhibit carbyne-like structures at their edges.
In 2015, researchers successfully synthesized linear carbon chains on the silver surface using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). This technique allows precise manipulation and observation of the chains. In recent years, carbyne nanoribbons have been produced using customized precursor molecules and surfaces. Synthesized by assisted polymerization, these nanoribbons represent a step toward creating longer and more stable carbyne-like structures.
The discovery and exploration of carbynes has been a journey filled with theoretical predictions, experimental challenges, and notable successes. Ongoing carbyne exploration holds great promise for advancing materials science, electronics, nanotechnology, and clean energy applications, as research As researchers continue to unravel the mysteries of this fascinating one-dimensional carbon chain, there may be more exciting discoveries and applications for carbynes in the future.