Materials made of carbon have for long held the fascination of researchers. The atomic species of carbon being highly unstable, it is stabilized by forming a variety of allotropic multiatomic structures. The most popular among those are diamond and graphite. Amorphous carbon also exists in the form of charcoal, lampblack, and activated carbon. An array of other forms is also available today, having found extensive use in popular research; these include fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanobuds, and nanofibers. Reports indicate the discovery of rather exotic allotropes such as lonsdaleite, glassy carbon, carbon nanofoam, and linear acetylenic carbon. In support to the discovery of such novel allotropic forms, a significant number of research activities are also being carried out for mapping their application potential.
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