Move Over Graphene, There Is A New Tough Guy In Town, Say Hello To Carbyne!

Remember back in the day, when times were simple and we all knew that diamond was the strongest thing around? Well those days are long over and since then we’ve learnt that Graphene was the strongest material, not to mention one of the most versatile materials. Yet for all the amazing things we’ve learnt about Graphene in the last few years, the top spot of tough materials has a new king, Carbyne.

Carbyne, aka Linear Acetylenic Carbon, is a super material that was first theorized in 1967, but it’s been long disputed for 40 years if it was in fact possible, or just a day dream. Well now theory has become reality after a team at Rice University figured out how to successfully synthesize and stabilize the material at room temperature.

With a similar structure to that of diamond, Carbyne is incredibly tough and it could have extensive applications in the world of nanotechnology, or like everything else these days it may just become the next big thing to make a smartphone out of, either way this is some very cool stuff indeed.

Thank you Gajitz for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Gajits.