About this Research Topic
Carbon is known in the forms of soot, charcoal, graphite, and diamond even in prehistory and serves a vital role in the development of human civilization. In 1985, the historic discovery of fullerene opened a new and exciting nanoscale world for carbon materials. This field was further extended by the subsequent discoveries of other carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and carbon dots. These nanocarbons, defined as carbon materials with a size or structure in the nanometer scale, are now one of the central topics of both the academic and industrial community. Fundamentally, nanocarbons can exist in zero, one, or two-dimensional space, which provides in-depth understanding into the bonding behavior and arrangement of carbon atoms and the construction of three-dimensional nanocarbon architectures. Due to their unique atomic structures, extraordinary physio-chemical properties have been theoretically predicted for these nanocarbon structures, of which some have already been experimentally demonstrated including solubility, strength, electrical/thermal conductivity, and so on.
While exciting applications are promised by nanocarbons, challenges remain despite the extensive efforts that have been devoted to this area. For instance, a clear understanding on the formation mechanisms of some nanocarbons, which is vital for the rational design and selective synthesis of nanocarbons, is still missing. For practical applications, precise tuning of specific properties (e.g., solubility and conductivity) are highly needed, but this is still a challenge especially for he fields like biomedicine and electronics. Moreover, much effort is still needed to construct nanocarbon-based compositions that endow nanocarbons with new functional properties and further extend their potential. Overall, the current Research Topic aims to present original and novel results that highlight recent research advances in nanocarbons fields. Potential themes include, but are not limited to:
• Design and synthesis of novel nanocarbons and three-dimensional carbon architectures
• Fundamental insights into the formation mechanisms of nanocarbons
• Surface modifications of nanocarbons and construction of nanocarbons-based functional materials
• Physical and chemical properties of nanocarbons or nanocarbons-based materials
• Advanced applications of nanocarbon in the fields such as energy storage and conversion, catalysis, drug delivery, biomedical imaging, ion detection, and so on.
While exciting applications are promised by nanocarbons, challenges remain despite the extensive efforts that have been devoted to this area. For instance, a clear understanding on the formation mechanisms of some nanocarbons, which is vital for the rational design and selective synthesis of nanocarbons, is still missing. For practical applications, precise tuning of specific properties (e.g., solubility and conductivity) are highly needed, but this is still a challenge especially for he fields like biomedicine and electronics. Moreover, much effort is still needed to construct nanocarbon-based compositions that endow nanocarbons with new functional properties and further extend their potential. Overall, the current Research Topic aims to present original and novel results that highlight recent research advances in nanocarbons fields. Potential themes include, but are not limited to:
• Design and synthesis of novel nanocarbons and three-dimensional carbon architectures
• Fundamental insights into the formation mechanisms of nanocarbons
• Surface modifications of nanocarbons and construction of nanocarbons-based functional materials
• Physical and chemical properties of nanocarbons or nanocarbons-based materials
• Advanced applications of nanocarbon in the fields such as energy storage and conversion, catalysis, drug delivery, biomedical imaging, ion detection, and so on.
Keywords: nanocarbon, surface modification, carbon architecture, fullerene, carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon dots
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