Researchers at Rice University have developed computer models that reveal that the long-theorized material carbyne is the strongest material in the world.

The research, which was published in the journal ACS Nano (“Carbyne from First Principles: Chain of C Atoms, a Nanorod or a Nanorope”), demonstrated that carbyne should have the greatest tensile strength of any other known material, double that of graphene which itself is 200 times stronger than steel.

Boris Yakobson, a theoretical physicist at Rice who led the research, haspreviously demonstrated through computer modeling important possibilities for the use of carbon materials, like graphene. In the case of this carbyne research, as with his research into graphene, it remains to be seen whether the computer models can be duplicated in the physical world.

As the press release covering the research describes it: “Carbyne is a chain of carbon atoms held together by either double or alternating single and triple atomic bonds.” It has been encountered in highly compressed graphite. While there have been some demonstrations of the material being synthesized at room temperature,  it’s not clear how it could be produced in bulk.

If such a method could be developed, the Rice researchers believe that the material could be useful in a range of applications.

“You could look at it as an ultimately thin graphene ribbon, reduced to just one atom, or an ultimately thin nanotube,” said Yakobson in the press release. “It could be useful for nanomechanical systems, in spintronic devices, as sensors, as strong and light materials for mechanical applications or for energy storage.”

While the mere fact that carbyne is the strongest possible assembly of atoms is exciting to the Rice researchers, it will take a bit more research to exploit that strength. It wasn’t until recently that the strength of graphene could be fully exploited in a composite material.

The next step for the researchers will be to investigate the possibility of one-dimensional chains of atoms for other elements.

Image: Vasilii Artyukhov/Rice University