Long-sought carbon structure joins graphene, fullerene family

Scientists have been playing with pure carbon compounds for centuries, starting with diamond and graphite and now with fullerenes, nanotubes and graphene. One type of 3D geometry has been missing, however: a negatively curved carbon-cage surface called schwarzite. Chemists have now shown that serendipitously produced materials called zeolite-templated carbons are in fact the long-sought schwarzites. Their recipe for making schwarzites could make them practical in electronics and gas storage.