The Chemical Structure of Carbon Nanothreads Analyzed by Advanced Solid-State NMR.

Carbon nanothreads are a new type of one-dimensional sp-carbon nanomaterial formed by slow compression and decompression of benzene. We report characterization of the chemical structure of C-enriched nanothreads by advanced quantitative, selective, and two-dimensional solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments complemented by infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The width of the NMR spectral peaks suggests that the nanothread reaction products are much more organized than amorphous carbon.

Carbon Nitride Nanothread Crystals Derived from Pyridine.

Carbon nanothreads are a new one-dimensional sp carbon nanomaterial. They assemble into hexagonal crystals in a room temperature, nontopochemical solid-state reaction induced by slow compression of benzene to 23 GPa. Here we show that pyridine also reacts under compression to form a well-ordered sp product: CNH carbon nitride nanothreads.