Prior to the project by researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, only a few fragments of graphyne had ever been produced despite decades of work and theorising.
The CU Boulder team believes the material could open brand-new possibilities for electronics, optics and semiconducting material research.
“The whole audience, the whole field, is really excited that this long-standing problem, or this imaginary material, is finally getting realised,” said Yiming Hu, lead author on the paper.
Scientists have long been interested in the construction of new or novel carbon allotropes, or forms of carbon, because of carbon’s versatility in a wide range of applications.
Using traditional chemistry methods, scientists have successfully created various allotropes over the years, including fullerene and graphene.
However, these methods don’t allow for the different types of carbon to be synthesised together in any sort of large capacity which is what is required...