Electric field assisted alignment of monoatomic carbon chains

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the stabilization and alignment of monoatomic carbon chains using electric fields, revealing their potential to form ordered quasi-crystals on substrates.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to align and deposit monoatomic carbon chains using electric fields, supported by a kinetic model of nano-dipole dynamics.

Findings

Successful stabilization of carbon chains in water.

Electric fields induce ordered deposition of chains.

Formation of carbyne quasi-crystals confirmed by TEM and X-ray diffraction.

Abstract

We stabilize monoatomic carbon chains in water by attaching them to gold nanoparticles (NPs) by means of the laser ablation process. Resulting nanoobjects represent pairs of NPs connected by multiple straight carbon chains of several nanometer lengths. If NPs at the opposite ends of a chain differ in size, the structure acquires a dipole moment due to the difference in work functions of the two NPs. We take advantage of the dipole polarisation of carbon chains for ordering them by the external electric field. We deposit them on a glass substrate by the sputtering method in the presence of static electric fields of magnitudes up to 10^5 V/m. The formation of one-dimensional carbyne quasi-crystals deposited on a substrate is evidenced by high-resolution TEM and X-ray diffraction measurements. The original kinetic model describing the dynamics of ballistically flowing nano-dipoles reproduces the experimental diagram of orientation of the deposited chains.