Graphene cones (08th of September 2010)

Interesting structures often appear in my scientific work. Structures belonging to a certain class are cones made of carbon atoms. One can, at least conceptually, construct different structures of carbon atoms, e.g. fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, but also cones, which are different from the previous molecules since they have an open edge. Five typical, small carbon cones that could also be considered to be chemical molecules, are shown in the image above. The image was taken from >> my paper that I published in Nanotechnology journal in 2007. All these interesting structures require formation of pentagons of carbon atoms. The plane formed exclusively by hexagons of carbon atoms is called graphene (see the image below) and this material is intensely researched recently.

The images below show parts of huge cones viewed from above and in orthographic projection. In such a way, one gets very interesting patterns. The cones are classified according to the number of pentagons they contain (from 1 to 5; 6 pentagons already forms open carbon nanotube). The cone below has only one pentagon.

Then (below), a cone with two pentagons - try to find them if that won't make you dizzy.

A cone with three pentagons is shown in the image below.

And at the end of this post, a cone with four pentagons (below). The cone with five pentagons is missing, but it simply does not look good in the orthographic projection.

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Last updated on: 08th of September 2010.