High-pressure laser-heating induced formation and equation of state of benzene-derived carbon nanothreads

Year: 2026

Authors: Santoro M., Fanetti S., Scelta D., Romi S., Mezouar M., Garbarino G., Poreba T., Haines J., Bini R.

Autors Affiliation: CNR, Ist Nazl Ottica CNR INO, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy; European Lab Nonlinear Spect LENS, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy; CNR, Ist Chim Composti OrganoMetall CNR ICCOM, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy; Univ Firenze, Dipartimento Chim Ugo Schiff, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy; European Synchrotron Radiat Facil ESRF, F-38043 Grenoble 9, France; Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Inst Phys, Lab Quantum Magnetism, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Univ Montpellier, Inst Charles Gerhardt Montpellier ICGM, CNRS, ENSCM, F-34293 Montpellier, France.

Abstract: We formed two-dimensional pseudo-hexagonally ordered diamond-like carbon nano-threads by laser heating dense molecular benzene, the archetypal aromatic compound, to temperatures exceeding 1000 K at about 40 GPa in diamond anvil cells. The heated samples were then rapidly (<1 s) temperature quenched. Instead, in previous studies, carbon nano-threads were obtained by subjecting benzene to slow compression-decompression cycles (<2 - 3 GPa/h) at room temperature, reaching maximum pressures of 23-24 GPa. Our pressure-temperature-time reaction path for this kinetically driven transformation differs substantially from previous studies, as it is significantly more extreme and faster. Synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements of temperature-quenched products were performed during a compression-decompression cycle from 40 to 54 to 0 GPa, allowing the determination of a one-dimensional equation of state for the characteristic interlayer spacing. This spacing reflects the van der Waals distance between neighboring threads. Comparison with previously reported ab initio equations of state constrains the local internal structure of the threads, which is otherwise elusive at high pressures due to disorder along the chain axis. Journal/Review: JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS

Volume: 164 (16)      Pages from: 164503-1  to: 164503-7

More Information: The authors acknowledge the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) for provision of beam times at the ID27 beamline through proposals CH-6478 (https://doi.org/10.15151/ESRF-ES-978356309) and CH-6820 (https://doi.org/10.15151/ESRF-ES-1361451730). M.S., S.F., D.S., S.R., and R.B. acknowledge the project European Union – NextGeneration EU, Integrated infrastructure initiative in Photonic and Quantum Sciences-I-PHOQS (Grant Nos. IR0000016, ID D2B8D520, and CUP B53C22001750006). S.R. and R.B. also ackn owledge financial support under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.1, Call for Tender No. 104, published on February 2, 2022, by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), funded by the European Union-NextGenerationEU Project Title NEw MatErials by high-presSure chemIStry Grant No. CUP B53D23015760006- Grant Assignment Decree No. 1064 adopted on July 18, 2023, by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR).
KeyWords: Polymerization; Reactivity
DOI: 10.1063/5.0331185