Carbon, among the list of most abundant element in nature, has the capability to be combined chemically with itself and with other elements by strong covalent bonds resulting inside a range of structures that enable the improvement of resources of Various properties. The carbon components may be extremely strong as diamond or graphite as very easily delaminated, extremely dense, higher strength (composite components carbon / carbon), and consequently appropriate for structural applications (aircraft and racing vehicles), or extremely porous (activated carbon); the latter becoming helpful as adsorbents for energy storage or as a assistance for catalysts. They are able to be Exceptionally conductive (graphite) or insulating (vitreous carbon). This broad spectrum of properties is reinforced by the truth that only carbon sources are capable of operating at intense temperatures in the most intense circumstances.

The carbon components have already been gathered a lot attention using the discovery of fullerenes and nanotubes. On the other hand, traditional carbon supplies have played an principal function since prehistoric period (pigment in cave paintings, a component of gunpowder, writing) and have contributed to the manufacturing and technological improvement of our society (steel).

The discovery of carbon fibers in the '60s, with its eminent strength and flexibility, was a major achievement inside the development of these supplies. In parallel, we find out the vitreous carbon, named immediately after filing a conchoidal fracture surface, with properties analogous to glass, pretty solid and brittle. In the exact same time, the discovery of brand new structural forms of graphitic carbon, needle and spherules, ostensibly contributed towards the improvement of new carbon Components for extremely diverse applications.

The outstanding biocompatibility of carbon supplies, revealed inside the 70s, its service in prostheses, ligaments and heart valves, amongst other individuals.

In the early '80s, the development of machinery for producing blocks of high-level density isotropic graphite allowed its application in higher temperature reactors, in devices of synthesis of semiconductor crystals and to elements of electric discharge electrodes. At mid-80s, the introduction of carbon fibers in civil engineering, architectural systems (buildings, bridges) using the discovery of fullerenes.

Within the 90s, was discovered nanotubes, opening a contemporary era for carbon supplies: The era of the nanostructure. It really is not only the globe of carbon graphite flat structures or three-dimensional type diamond, but we are now with closed structures containing pentagons of carbon atoms and carbon tubes with diameters in the nanometer scale, produced of a sheet plain curved carbon atoms in hexagonal distribution. The discovery of carbon nanotubes of a single wall (single) and a number of wall, stimulated the fascination of scientists and engineers in fields related to nanotechnology. In the very same time, new applications in the materials of the family of graphite, including anode supplies for Li-ion battery rechargeable carbon fiber water refining, activated carbon electrodes for electric double layer supercapacitors, etc. .