Bonding

CARBON NANOMATERIALS
 Nanotechnology
 Chemistry is the study of the structure (at atomic scale) and behaviour of
matter (bulk properties)
 However, much recent study is focusing on the properties of these material at
these smaller scales where the surface area to volume ratio is much larger and
quantum effects become significant.
 As a result, these materials have significantly different properties at this scale.
 Nanotechnology is the study of the properties and applications of materials on
this scale.
Nanoscale

 Nanoscale refers to structures that are between 1 and 100

nanometres.
1 nanometre = 1 nm = 1 x 10-9 m
ie 1 billionth of a metre
 Nanomaterials are composed of units that exist in this
scale.
 Nanoparticles
 Nanoparticles are typically spherical particles with a diameter of 1 – 100 nm.
 Gold particles at the nanoscale interact with light differently and the result is
a range of different colours.
 Carbon nanomaterials
 As discussed previously, diamond, graphite and amorphous carbon are all
allotropes of carbon (elements with different structural arrangements).
 Work has been pursued to investigate allotropes of carbon on the nanoscale.
 Fullerenes
 Discovered in the 1970s, the structure of this allotrope of carbon was
determined in 1985.
 They contain molecules with a mass of 60 carbons arranged in a
series of pentagons and hexagons to form a roughly spherical group
 Variationsof these structures known as “buckyballs” have been
discovered.
Other fullerenes – graphene and nanotubes

 Other fullerenes have been discovered. They also consist

of series of carbon atoms arranged in pentagons and
hexagons.These have either a:
 layer structure such as graphene or
 tube structure such as nanotubes.
Graphene

 Consist of a layered structure much like a single layer of graphite. It retains the
electrical conductivity of graphite but is much stronger as it consists only of one
layer.
Nanotubes

 Consist of a sheet of graphene rolled into a cylinder capped with half a fullerene.
They are strong, good conductors of heat and electricity
Apply your knowledge!
 Read Pearson 1.2 & 7.2 including end of chapter
questions.