Can we go beyond graphene?

There are at least two different allotropes of carbon that are stronger than graphene.

Graphene is basically a two-dimensional, one-atom-thick structure made up of carbon atoms hybridized in the sp2 form and arranged to form hexagons.

The material possesses the strength of diamond along with the flexibility of plastic, plus many other characteristics that make its uses limitless.

The first allotrope that can surpass the properties of graphene is carbyne. It is a single chain of carbon atoms alternating triple and single bonds, with twice the tensile strength of graphene and three times the stiffness of diamond.

Carbyne, or linear acetylenic carbon, possesses such high strength due to the fact that each individual atom shares a greater number of electrons, three to be exact. This increases the energy required to break the bonds and still leaves one electron to continue the chain.

Since it is only a single strand of atoms, it is often referred to as a ‘one-dimensional’ structure.

The second allotrope is graphyne, which in a sense combines the best of graphene and carbyne into a single material.

Like graphene, it is a one-atom-thick planar structure whose elements are arranged in hexagonal cells, but in graphyne the cells are connected by one or…