Scientists synthesise diamondiyne, a newly created carbon allotrope

Key facts

• Scientists from the University of Gothenburg, Stock University and Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have synthesised a new carbon allotrope called diamondiyne, first proposed more than three decades ago, with findings published in Angewandte Chemie.
• Diamondiyne is a three-dimensional network of carbon atoms resembling diamond but more open, like two jungle gyms pushed through each other, with spacious cages that could contain other atoms within.
• The material was made at a boundary between water and chloroform over about a week, producing thin films of about five square centimetres with thickness controllable from a few nanometres up to 60 nanometres.
• Researchers confirmed small diamondiyne crystals in the films using spectroscopy and electron microscopy, though it made up only 1% of the reaction yield.
• Carbon atoms bond to form allotropes; the three most famous are graphite, diamond and graphene, with each diamond carbon atom bonded to four neighbours while graphene atoms form a flat sheet.