Exploring Carbon Allotropes: Graphene and Fullerenes Uses Explained

In today's video we're going to look at the allotropes of carbon, known as graphene and fullerenes, but we'll spend most of the video looking at the many uses that they have. As we said in our previous video, allotropes are just different structural forms of the same element

in the same physical state, so in this case different forms of solid carbon. In that video we looked at the allotropes diamond and graphite and saw that graphite is made up of lots of layers. Each of these layers is known as graphene and their structure of multiple repeating hexagons,

with each carbon being bonded to three other carbons, makes them really strong. And because each of the atoms donates one of its electrons to a delocalised pool of electrons, graphene can also conduct electricity, which makes it useful in making electronics.

Now graphene is completely natural and we can get it from the ground in the form of graphite, but what scientists have started to do is take these strong but tiny sheets and make stuff out of them like tubes. They've also made similar sheets but with pentagons or heptagons, which

make the sheets curve into spheres. And these tiny tubes and spheres, which we call fullerenes, can be used for all sorts of things. For example, scientists are able to form the spheres around other molecules,

such as drugs, so that it acts like a cage and can be used to deliver the drugs to certain areas of the body. Or because fullerenes have a large surface area to volume ratio, as all tiny things do, they could be used to make industrial catalysts, which are used to speed

up the rate of chemical reaction. Meanwhile, the tubes, which are known as nanotubes because they're so tiny, can be used in nanotechnology and in electronics because of their ability to conduct electricity.

They can also be used to strengthen other materials, like tennis racket frames. This is because of their very high length to diameter ratio, which is just a technical way of saying that they're very long and thin, which allows them to add strength to the material without

adding very much weight. The very first fullerene made, though, was one of these spheres, called the Buckminster Fullerene, which is a hollow sphere made of 60 carbon atoms, so it has the formula C60.

We call technology that uses these sorts of tiny structures nanotechnology, and it's now being used in loads of industries, from medicine and batteries to food and fashion. The main point to take away, though, is that fullerenes are not just a material, but a

form of energy. They're a form of energy that can be used to produce energy, and they're used to produce energy. The main point to take away, though, is that fullerenes are not just a form of energy,

but they're also the only outer DNA. So it might be useful to use fullerenes to shift energy. The whose quality is that they are not just a form of energy, they're an outer

fire... So if you're not a fullerene in theяла, you still know what it is, right? For first-time fielders, this is just a basicclipse of how produce danach material is made.

All the harvested form is directly generated from the So sign up for free by clicking here or browse our playlist here on YouTube. nesse, or parts of pureld, and by this extent they're rigid.