amorphous carbonia
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Amorphous carbonia, also called a-carbonia or a-CO2, is an exotic amorphous solid form of
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
that is analogous to amorphous silica glass. It was first made in the laboratory in 2006 by subjecting
dry ice Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and sublimates directly from the solid state to the gas state. It is used primarily ...
to high pressures (40-48
gigapascal The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI), and is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is defined as ...
, or 400,000 to 480,000 atmospheres), in a
diamond anvil cell A diamond anvil cell (DAC) is a high-pressure device used in geology, engineering, and materials science experiments. It enables the compression of a small (sub-millimeter-sized) piece of material to extreme pressures, typically up to around 1 ...
. Amorphous carbonia is not stable at ordinary pressures—it quickly reverts to normal CO2. While normally carbon dioxide forms molecular crystals, where individual molecules are bound by
Van der Waals force In molecular physics, the van der Waals force is a distance-dependent interaction between atoms or molecules. Unlike ionic or covalent bonds, these attractions do not result from a chemical electronic bond; they are comparatively weak and th ...
s, in amorphous carbonia a covalently bound three-dimensional network of atoms is formed, in a structure analogous to
silicon dioxide Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...
or
germanium dioxide Germanium dioxide, also called germanium(IV) oxide, germania, and salt of germanium, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ge O2. It is the main commercial source of germanium. It also forms as a passivation layer on pure germaniu ...
glass. Mixtures of a-carbonia and a-
silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is ...
may be a prospective very hard and stiff glass material stable at room temperature. Such glass may serve as protective coatings, e.g. in
microelectronics Microelectronics is a subfield of electronics. As the name suggests, microelectronics relates to the study and manufacture (or microfabrication) of very small electronic designs and components. Usually, but not always, this means micrometre-s ...
. The discovery has implications for astrophysics, as interiors of massive planets may contain amorphous solid carbon dioxide.


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External links


Dry ice creates toughened glass

Physicsweb: Dry ice forms ultrahard glass
Carbon dioxide Amorphous solids Physical chemistry Astrophysics Glass compositions {{astrophysics-stub