If they do, they'll find carbyne nanorods or nanoropes have a host of   
   remarkable and useful properties, as described in a new paper by Rice   
   University theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his group. The paper   
   appears this week in the American    
   Chemical Society journal ACS Nano.   
      
   Carbyne is a chain of carbon atoms held together by either double or   
   alternating single and triple atomic bonds. That makes it a true   
   one-dimensional material, unlike atom-thin sheets of graphene that have a top   
   and a bottom or hollow nanotubes that have    
   an inside and outside.   
      
   According to the portrait drawn from calculations by Yakobson and his group:   
   •Carbyne's tensile strength – the ability to withstand stretching – surpasses   
   "that of any other known material" and is double that of graphene. (Scientists   
   had already calculated it would take an elephant on a pencil to break through   
   a sheet of graphene.   
   )   
   •It has twice the tensile stiffness of graphene and carbon nanotubes and   
   nearly three times that of diamond.   
   •Stretching carbyne as little as 10 percent alters its electronic band gap   
   significantly.   
   •If outfitted with molecular handles at the ends, it can also be twisted to   
   alter its band gap. With a 90-degree end-to-end rotation, it becomes a   
   magnetic semiconductor.   
   •Carbyne chains can take on side molecules that may make the chains suitable   
   for energy storage.   
   •The material is stable at room temperature, largely resisting crosslinks with   
   nearby chains.   
      
   That's a remarkable set of qualities for a simple string of carbon atoms,   
   Yakobson said.   
      
   "You could look at it as an ultimately thin graphene ribbon, reduced to just   
   one atom, or an ultimately thin nanotube," he said. It could be useful for   
   nanomechanical systems, in spintronic devices, as sensors, as strong and light   
   materials for    
   mechanical applications or for energy storage.    
      
      
    Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-10-carbon-champion-theo   
   ists-atom-thick-carbyne.html#nwlt   
      
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