ELEMENT 6

And its allotropes

CARBON

ALLOTROPES

NATURAL ALLOTROPES
Graphite
Properties

Has a layered planar structure.

has a high melting point, similar to that of diamond
has a soft, slippery feel, and is used in pencils
dry lubricant for things like locks.
has a lower density than diamond.

NATURAL ALLOTROPES
Diamond
Properties
Hardest material known
Has a high melting point
Good thermal conductor

SYNTHETIC ALLOTROPES
Fullerene
Any molecule composed of carbon
Has spherical or cylindrical like shape.
Buckminsterfullerene/ bucky ball was discovered by Sir Harry Kroto of
the University of Sussex and Richard Smalley and Bob Curl of Rice
University.
Carbon nanotube a 1 atom thick sheet rolled into a tube.

BUCKY BALL
Has 60 carbons
Has a shape like a football
Composed of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons
Properties
Can with stand high pressure and temperature
Can trap any element without reacting
Can act as insulator or conductor

CARBON NANOTUBES
Allotrope of carbon with cylindrical structure
Have unusual properties valuable to nanotech
One atom thick sheets of carbon
Properties
Strongest and stiffest materials in terms of tensile strength
Good thermal conductor
Superconductor

GRAPHENE
A 1 atom thick sheet of carbon
Single sheet planar structure with sp2 bonds
A chicken wire structure
Derivative of graphite
Properties

Superconductor
Very good thermal conductor
Very strong material
Very light
Nearly transparent

METHODOLOGY
Electric arc discharge
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD)
Scotch tape peeling method

ELECTRIC ARC DISCHARGE

Passing a high electric current to vaporize graphite.
The resulting vapor produces clusters of carbon

CHEMICAL VAPOR
DEPOSITION

SCOTCH TAPE PEELING

METHOD

REFERENCES
The era of carbon allotropes Andreas Hirsch Nature Materials
Volume 9, November 2010
Various websites on the internet