Long-hypothesized ‘next generation wonder material’ created for first time
CU Boulder scientists have successfully synthesized graphyne, which has been theorized for decades but never successfully produced
For over a decade, scientists have attempted to synthesize a new form of carbon called graphyne with limited success. That endeavor is now at an end, though, thanks to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Graphyne has long been of interest to scientists because of its similarities to the “wonder material” graphene—another form of carbon that is highly valued by industry whose research was even awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. However, despite decades of work and theorizing, only a few fragments have ever been created before now.
This research, announced last week in Nature Synthesis, fills a longstanding gap in carbon material science, potentially opening brand-new possibilities for electronics, optics and semiconducting material research.
At the top of the page: Crystal structure of a layer of graphyne. Above: Yiming Hu, a recent PhD graduate in chemistry, was the paper's first author.
