Generating carbon schwarzites via zeolite-templating

Abstract

SignificanceNanocarbons can be characterized by their curvature—that is, positively curved fullerenes, zero-curved graphene, and negatively curved schwarzites. Schwartzites are fascinating materials but have not been synthesized yet, although disordered materials with local properties similar to schwarzites (“random schwarzites”) have been isolated. A promising synthetic method allows for the interior surfaces of zeolites to be templated with normalsnormalp2 carbon, but theoretical study of these zeolite-templated carbons (ZTCs) has been limited because of their noncrystalline structures. In this work, we develop an improved molecular description of ZTCs, show that they are equivalent to schwartzites, and thus make the experimental discovery of schwarzites ex post facto. Our topological characterization of ZTCs lends insights into how template choice allows for the tunability of ordered microporous carbons.

A Simple “Nano-Templating” Method Using Zeolite Y Toward the Formation of Carbon Schwarzites

“…It has been recently reported that the growth of carbon inside the hard porous materials, so-called template carbonization (Kyotani et al, 1997), has successfully synthesized carbons with structures that fits the description of schwarzites (Braun et al, 2018). Zeolite Y (FAU) is a commonly used template material, due to its three-dimensional pore structure, high thermal stability, and large pores (Kyotani et al, 2003;Braun et al, 2018).…”

Mechanical and energy-absorption properties of schwarzites

“…Considering the results presented in Table 3, schwarzites can be considered extremely attractive for any application in which lightweight yet highly energy absorbent materials are needed, such as body armor. There have been important synthesis advances for schwarzites inside zeolites [11,13,61], and large-size structures could be a reality in the coming years. Also, a recently 3D printed version of atomic schwarzite models was reported [42] and surprisingly some of their mechanical properties proved to be scale-independent.…”

“…Other works investigated the stability of some schwarzite structures [7][8][9][10] and possible synthesis routes [11][12][13][14]. Although the complex geometry of schwarzites poses significant challenges for their synthesis, they have been used to model realistic synthesized carbon nanofoams [15][16][17][18][19] and to clarify the role of negative Gaussian curvature in chemical structures [20] and biophysical systems [21,22].…”

“…With the recent synthesis of new porous carbon networks [14,23] there is a renewed interest in schwarzite-like structures due to their unique topological properties and many potential applications, such as catalysis, molecular sieving [24,25], gas storage [26], alkali ion batteries [27], as anode for lithium-ion batteries [28] and energy-absorbing materials [15][16][17][18][19]. A recent work proposed a synthesis route to schwarzites through Zeolite templating [13], but up to now their synthesis remains elusive.…”

A Highly Warped Heptagon‐Containing sp2 Carbon Scaffold via Vinylnaphthyl π‐Extension

“…These stipulations preclude solubility‐enhancing substituents and heteroatom directing groups to aid C−C bond forming reactions. These latter targets are especially appealing, however, as they can be viewed as subunits of new carbon allotropes extending in three dimensions (i.e., “Schwarzites”, or “Mackay crystals”) …”