Stabilization of linear carbon structures in a solid Ag nanoparticle assembly

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a simple method to stabilize linear sp carbon chains within a solid silver nanoparticle assembly, enabling long-term ambient stability and facilitating further study of these one-dimensional nanostructures.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel solid silver nanoparticle assembly that stabilizes linear sp carbon chains, overcoming previous instability issues.

Findings

Linear sp carbon chains are stabilized in silver nanoparticle assemblies.

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering confirms the presence of linear carbon.

The system remains stable at ambient conditions over time.

Abstract

Linear sp carbon nanostructures are gathering interest for the physical properties of one-dimensional (1D) systems. At present, the main obstacle to the synthesis and study of these systems is their instability. Here we present a simple method to obtain a solid system where linear sp chains (i.e. polyynes) in a silver nanoparticle assembly display a long term stability at ambient conditions. The presence and the behavior of linear carbon is investigated by Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) exploiting the plasmon resonance of the silver nanoparticles assembly. This model system opens the possibility to investigate an intriguing form of carbon nanostructures.