Since the first reported production in 2004, researchers have been hard at work using graphene and similar carbon-based materials to revolutionize electronics, sports, and many other disciplines. Now, researchers from Japan have made a discovery that will advance the long-elusive field of nanographene magnets.
In a study recently published in Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers from Osaka University and collaborating partners have synthesized a crystalline nanographene with magnetic properties that have been predicted theoretically since the 1950s, but until now have been unconfirmed experimentally except at extremely low temperatures.
Graphene is a single layer, two-dimensional sheet of carbon rings arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Why does graphene excite researchers? Graphene has impressive properties—it exhibits efficient, long-distance charge transport and has a much higher strength than similarly thick steel. Nanostructures of graphene have edges that exhibit magnetic and electronic properties that researchers would like to exploit. However, graphene nanosheets are difficult to prepare and it's difficult to study their zigzag edge properties. Overcoming these challenges by using a simpler, yet advanced, model system known as triangulene is something the researchers at Osaka University aimed to address.
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