Chapter One

Brief Overview of Carbon and Its Cousins

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of natural carbon and graphite and establishing some similarities with the properties of carbonaceous nanomaterials. A description of carbon's electronic properties and atomic structure is reviewed, including s- and p-orbitals, bonds, and hybridization. The discussion puts particular emphasis on the edge sites of graphite (primarily armchair and zigzag) and surfaces, and the dangling bonds associated with the edge sites relating their importance in applications.

Keywords

Carbon; edge sites; graphite; electronic structure; surface area; sp2 orbitals; sp3 orbitals; zigzag faces; armchair faces; dangling bonds; graphite oxidation

1.1 Electronic Structure

Carbon ...

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