Allotropes of carbon

Carbon as an element due to its high percentage in the Earth’s crust is widely used in
everyday’s life, not as simple coal but in different combinations of compounds
composed with metals or nonmetals and alloys. Beside those compounds carbon also
has many allotropes . An allotrope is defined as a molecular or crystalline structure of an
element that is in the same aggregate state but exhibits different physical and chemical
properties. The allotropes of carbon are diamond, graphite, graphene,
buckminsterfullerene, carbon nanotubes, lonsdaleite, novamene and more that are in
the process of synthesizing.
Diamond and graphite are the oldest known allotropes. Despite that they have the
same building subunit, they possess very different properties. Each C atom is bonded to
four more, forming a tetrahedron with sp 3 hybridized orbitals and bond angle of 109.5 o in
the structure of diamond. Whereas in the structure of graphite each C atom is bonded to
three more in a trigonal planar structure with hybridized sp 2 orbitals with an angle of
1200. Due to its molecular structure, graphite is a good electrical and heat conductor,
and diamond is not a good electrical conductor but an efficient thermal conductor.

Graphene is a layer from graphite which exhibits similar properties as graphite

although the structure is in 2D, referred to as honeycomb in colloquial language.
Additionally it is the best thermal conductor and the thinnest allotrope.

Another structure interconnected with graphite is the carbon fiber, which was
persistently used in automobile, airplane and bicycle industry due its lightness and
strengthens.

Buckminsterfullerene is a newer allotrope that resembles a

soccer ball because its spherical structure is a cluster of sixty
carbons in membered rings, which was an serendipitous
discovery. Sir Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Bob Curl
weren’t looking in particular for buckminsterfullerene yet the
discovery brought them Nobel Prize. It was isolated from a
carbon dust, formed by heating graphite at high temperatures.
Tough, resilient and stable toward heating method of
purification along with the usage as lubricant make
buckminsterfullerene a good allotrope in the medical
production. It can be used in drug delivery systems, as
catalysts and production of lubricants. Fibers of fullerene are lightweight composite
material of great strength,utilised in production of lightweight cars and aircraft.

Carbon nanotubes have versatile properties like super

hardness, ductility, low density and high tensile strength.
Under high pressure the bonding pattern can be changed,
resulting in the ability for carbon to adopt sp, sp 2 , and sp3
hybridized orbitals.
They were first noticed as tiny needles on electrodes used in
preparation for fullerene. There are two types of carbon
nanotubes: single-walled and multi-walled nanotubes. After
a insightful study it was established that the electronic
properties depend on the helicity and diameter. Few
methods for synthesizing were discovered. They include electrical arc discharge, laser
ablation, and catalytic vapour deposition. In all of the of the methods carbon vapour is
essential with or without catalysts. Nanotubes can be considered as a substitute of
carbon fiber, because their usage has increased. Applied in the production of
supercapacitors, actuators,drug delivery and utility in medicine.
They are incorporated in production or rechargeable batteries, the automobile industry
and plenty more.

There have been researches for new

carbon allotropes due to the versatile
bonding sites and hybridized orbitals
sp, sp2, and sp3, and one of those is
glassy carbon. The primary properties
of glassy carbon are the high
electrical conductivity of ceramic and
the inertness of glass which are
greatly exploited in the industry for which it is actually synthesized.

Lonsdaleite is a hexagonal structure of carbon, first identified as

microscopic crystals with alternating cubic diamonds. Compressing
and heating graphite in a static press or using explosives, thermal
decomposition of a polymer are two of the ways of synthesis.
Hardness is one of the key properties that lonsdaleite possesses.

Novamene is
combination of hexagonal
diamond and ring carbon.
The diamond acts as an
insulator and the carbon ring
as a conductor.
Thus the properties
lending themselves for
production of transistors and
other electronic components.

Carbon allotropes have immersed in the production and innovation of the contemporary
world that they prove to be essential in the everyday life.

Julija Stojanova
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