Carbon nanothread
A carbon or diamond nanothread (DNT) is a tetrahedrally-bonded carbon crystalline nanomaterial (a close-packed sp3 bonded carbon structure). Its structure is similar to that of diamond. DNTs are only a few atoms across, more than 20,000 times thinner than a human hair.
DNTs rival or exceed the strength of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Molecular dynamics simulations have indicated a stiffness on the order of carbon nanotubes (approx. 850 GPa) and a specific strength of approx. 4 × 107 N·m/kg.
Every type of DNT has a very high Young's modulus (stiffness). The value for the strongest type of DNT is around 900 GPa compared to steel at 200 GPa and diamond at over 1,200 GPa.
In 2014, researchers at Penn State University created the first DNTs. As of 2015, fibers 90 nanometers in length had been created (compared to .5 meters for CNTs). Also in 2015, a simulation indicated that the strength of the material was not a function of its length.
Synthesis is achieved using liquid benzene subjected to extreme pressure (around 200,000 times the pressure at the surface of the Earth), and then slowly relieved of that pressure. The benzene chains form extremely thin, tight rings of carbon that are structurally identical to diamonds.
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