New Carbon Allotropes: Graphyne, Graphdiyne and Beyond.

[NNadir]

When I was a kid, one was taught there were two carbon allotropes, diamond and graphite.

The world has changed; there are too many allotropes of carbon to count.

I'm way behind on my readings in Chemical Reviews, and the following paper is from the past April: Graphynes and Graphdiynes for Energy Storage and Catalytic Utilization: Theoretical Insights into Recent Advances Hao Li, Jong Hyeon Lim, Yipin Lv, Nannan Li, Baotao Kang, and Jin Yong Lee Chemical Reviews 2023 123 (8), 4795-4854.

It discusses some carbon allotropes of which I was unaware.

The history of the discovery of new carbon allotropes, beginning with "fullerene" (C₆₀), through carbon nanotubes and beyond:



The caption:

Figure 1. Timeline of the development of carbon allotrope materials. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of (a) fullerene, (33) (b) carbon nanotube, (35) (c) graphene film, (18) and (d) GDY film. (38) (a) Reprinted with open access article from ref (34). Copyright 2019 MDPI under CC-BY (https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess). (b) Reprinted with open access article from ref (36). Copyright 2018 Springer Nature under CC-BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). (c) Reprinted with open access article from ref (37). Copyright 2017 Springer Nature under CC-BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). (d) Reprinted with permission from ref (5). Copyright 2019 American Chemical Society. (e) Atomic force microscope (AFM) image of a GY flake. Reprinted with permission from ref (39). Copyright 2022 American Chemical Society. (f) Picture of a wafer-scale GDY film. Reprinted with permission from ref (40). Copyright 2021 Elsevier.

The caption:

Figure 3. GYF containing different numbers (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4) of acetylene linkages inserted between C(sp2) atoms.

The caption:

Figure 4. Theoretically predicted structures of α-GY, β-GY, γ-GY, GDY, and 6,6,12-GY with lattice vectors (a1 and a2).

It's an odd thing to come to the end of one's life and recognize how little one actually knows.

[Woodwizard]

1. Interesting.

Shame it took almost a lifetime to attain the self awareness of the last sentence.

[NNadir]

2. Most people never recognize how little they know. Since I've been a scientist for many decades...

...and have attended thousands of scientific talks, and participated in thousands of experiments, and read tens of thousands of scientific papers on a wide variety of subjects, I've kind of had a clue about the limits of my knowledge and have recognized as much over the years.

I have made a point of being the dumbest guy in the room as often as is possible. The possibility of doing this diminishes with time, as to continue, one must seek out smarter and smarter people, having raised one's level by this process.

By contrast, there are people whose life experience is very limited, and who never recognize how little they know and who clearly couldn't care less. Generally, they're provincials. I see them here all the time. For example, one sees people who can't wrestle numbers, and they seem to be very proud of how their lives hunky dory, facts be damned.

The general rhetoric they apply is to tell everybody how things are just fine in their lives, and then announce that whatever they are doing in their little provincial setting will automatically and definitely apply to everyone universally. It goes like "I have no problems, so if you have a problem, you should be like me."

I think that kind of mindless, but that's just my opinion.

As for allotropes...

I have been aware of the expanding universe of carbon allotropes since the late 20th century. I come across papers on carbon nanotubes frequently and have done so for many years. I might have been able to make a statement that "I'm familiar with carbon allotropes" based on the fact that I've seen so many. But I was unfamiliar with graphdynes and graphdiynes and the other analogues presented in this review. And the article was a review, not a primary paper, meaning there is tons of knowledge about carbon allotropes I have not even the slightest clue.

So yeah, at the end of my life, I'm struck about how little I know, not just about carbon allotropes of course, but that is the context I applied in the OP.

One can not know everything about any topic, and to be reminded as much generated the remark I made.

Of course, one does encounter people who know nothing at all, have never looked beyond themselves, and yet assume the right to make bombastic remarks on subjects about which they clearly know nothing at all. Donald Trump is the classic case of such an individual, but we do see similar, less impactful cases here at DU. I encounter lots of them in the form of antinukes. I think of it as some kind of religion, rather analogous to those Bible bangers who want to argue that evolution isn't real.

Here at DU, some of these people representative of these classes believe themselves to be witty, I think. I'm not amused by them, but the fact that I'm not has no bearing on whether others might think them amusing.

My life is drawing down. I did what I could; and I raised sons who are much farther along than I was when I was their age. One of them is working on a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering, and has the goal participating in the saving what is left to save, and even restoring what might be restored. I advise him no to do what I have done, and spend time with all the dumb comments one hears from people who couldn't care less about what's outside their doors, yet who are quite willing to mutter their fear and ignorance as often as is possible.

I'm pleased with my sons, and grateful for their mother who did so much to raise them.

As for me, so yes, I do recognize how little I know, but I passed the torch to sons who can go further than I did, because at their ages, they're way beyond where I was at a corresponding age. I do hope they will seek to be the dumbest guy in the room often, and that there are people who will want to be in rooms with them for the same purpose. It will be a good thing if, at the end of their lives, they contemplate how little they know, even if they know far more than I ever did in my time.

It has been my privilege to see and understand things that were quite unique, but again, to recognize how many things I missed as time runs out.

Have a nice evening.