Today, we are witnessing how scientists are trying to put into practice the miraculous properties of a relatively recently synthesized graphene material. Similar prospects are promised just now in the laboratory, a nitrogen-based material whose properties hint at the possibility of high conductivity or high energy density.
The discovery was made by an international team of scientists at the University of Bayreuth in Germany. According to the laws of chemistry and physics, one chemical element can exist in the form of several different simple substances. For example, oxygen (O2) can be turned into ozone (O3) and carbon into graphite or diamond. Such types of existence of the same element are called . The problem with nitrogen was that its allotropes are relatively few - about 15 pieces, and only three of them are polymer modifications. But now another polymeric allotrope of this substance has been found, called "black nitrogen".
"Black nitrogen" was obtained using a diamond anvil at a pressure of 1,4 million atmospheres at a temperature of 4000 Β° C. Under such conditions, nitrogen acquired a hitherto unseen structure - its crystal lattice began to resemble the crystal lattice of black phosphorus, which gave reason to call the resulting state "black nitrogen". In this state, nitrogen has a two-dimensional, albeit zigzag, structure. The two-dimensionality hints that the conductivity of nitrogen in this state can somewhat repeat the properties of graphene, which can be useful when using the substance in electronics.
In addition, in the new state, the nitrogen atoms are linked by single bonds, which are six times weaker than the triple bond, as in the case of ordinary atmospheric nitrogen (N2). This means that the return of "black nitrogen" to its normal state will be accompanied by the release of significant energy, and this is the path to fuel or fuel cells. But all this is ahead, and so far, not even a step has been taken on this path, but so - they looked through the keyhole and saw something.
Source: 3dnews.ru