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Carbon is an element with a unique ability to bond with itself principally via sp3 (diamond-like) and sp2 (graphitelike) hybridization. This versatility results in a rich diversity of structural forms of solid carbons. Most of the materials dealt with in carbon science and industry are considered to be composed of mainly large polycyclic aromatic molecules. The differences in the size and shape of such macromolecules and the way the molecules assemble (how they stack and how they are connected to one another) again lead to an immense variety of possibilities, which endow carbon materials with a surprisingly wide range of physicochemical properties. This is the reason why I have been fascinated by carbon science and thereby have been pursuing carbon research in my career. As you know, artificial graphite blocks, carbon blacks and activated carbons have long been used in industry for steel refining, rubber reinforcement and purification, respectively, and we can hardly imagine our daily life without these carbon materials. We, carbon researchers, call these carbons “Classic Carbons”. In 1960, new types of carbons were developed, i.e., carbon fibers, glass-like carbons and pyrolytic carbons, which are called “New Carbons” in contrast to classic carbons and have now been used in many advance fields like aircraft, aerospace, electronics and civil engineering. In 1985, a cage-like carbon consisting of 60 carbon atoms was found, named buckminsterfullerene C60, followed by the discovery of their relatives (C70, C76, C82+) and then carbon nanotubes. Moreover, recently graphene makes a grand appearance in the world of carbon materials. These newest carbons can be regarded as “Nanocarbons”. It seems to me that the use of nanocarbons is all the fashion in the community of science, because you can easily find the word of “carbon nanotubes” or “graphene” in many scientific articles. A great number of researchers, most of who are not experts on carbon science, I guess, have prepared/used nanocarbons and published vast number of papers, in some of which very interesting results are demonstrated. It is a good thing, but I have the feeling that people pay too much attention to nanocarbons. I believe that scientific researches about “New Carbons”, even “Classic Carbons”, are not out of date at all and still provide many novel aspects of carbon science. It is sometimes the case that “Classic Carbons” or “New Carbons” give better performance than “Nanocarbons”. Just considering the application of carbon materials to the field of electrochemistry, I am very sure that all members in the Electrochemical Society of Japan readily understand the importance of “Classic Carbons” and “New Carbons” as electrodes. As I mentioned above, the size and shape of large polycyclic aromatic molecules and the way such macromolecules are connected to one another govern all properties of the resulting carbon materials. In other words, if one could control the size and shape of the macromolecules and the state of their assemblage at the nanometer level, it would be possible to prepare carbon materials with a unique nanostructure, thereby expecting novel and useful physicochemical properties. I believe that such molecular and/or nanometer level control in carbon structure is what we have to do in future carbon researches, regardless of the types of carbon materials. Takashi KYOTANI Professor, Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University Electrochemistry, 83(5)

Carbon&mdash;Old and Simple but New and Complex Materials

Carbon—Old and Simple but New and Complex Materials