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The Secret of Carboniferous Carbon: Why Is It Called Amorphous Carbon?
In nature, carbon occurs in many forms, including the familiar graphite and diamond. However, many people may not be familiar with the concept of amorphous carbon. Amorphous carbon is not actually a specific substance, but a type of carbon material with common characteristics. Its main feature is that it does not have a crystal structure.
Amorphous carbon is simply free and reactive carbon that has no crystal structure.
Chemical composition of coal
In mineralogy, the name amorphous carbon is mainly used to describe coal, carbide-derived carbon, and other impure forms of carbon that are not graphite or diamond. Crystallographically, these materials are actually not completely amorphous, but instead consist of polycrystalline materials of graphite or diamond arranged in an amorphous carbon matrix.
Applications in modern science
With the development of modern thin film deposition and growth technologies in the second half of the 20th century, such as chemical vapor deposition, sputter deposition, and cathodic arc deposition, it is now possible to create truly amorphous carbon materials. True amorphous carbon contains localized π electrons whose bonding lengths and distances are inconsistent with other allotropes of carbon.
It also contains a high concentration of dangling bonds, which causes the atomic spacing to vary by more than 5% when measured using diffraction.
Characteristics of amorphous carbon
The properties of amorphous carbon films depend on the parameters during deposition, and their main characteristic is the ratio of sp2 and sp3 hybrid bonds. Graphite is composed of pure sp2 hybridized bonds, while diamond is composed of pure sp3 hybridized bonds. Materials with a high content of sp3 hybridized bonds are called tetrahedral amorphous carbon because the sp3 hybridized bonds form a tetrahedral structure.
Amorphous carbon with high sp3 hybridization bonds has many physical properties similar to diamond.
Exploration of Q-Carbon
Q-carbon, or rapidly cooled carbon, is a material claimed to be amorphous carbon. It is said to be ferromagnetic, electrically conductive, harder than diamond, and can also exhibit high-temperature superconductivity. The material was discovered in 2015 by a research team at North Carolina State University, which published several research papers on its synthesis and properties.
However, there have been no independent experiments confirming the substance and its properties to date.
Future research directions
Although research on Q-carbon continues, its claimed properties still need to be further verified. Many researchers are conducting research on the properties of amorphous carbon materials with the intention of expanding their application scope.
The exploration of amorphous carbon is further expanding our understanding of carbon. This is not only an innovation in materials science, but may also provide a new direction for future technology. However, whether these materials can truly unleash their potential in practical applications is still a question worthy of our in-depth consideration.
