Glassy carbon or vitreous carbon is a class of non-graphitizing carbon widely used as an electrode material in electrochemistry, as well as for high temperature crucibles and as a component of some prosthetic devices.
It was first produced by Bernard Redfern in the mid 1950s at the laboratories of The Carborundum Company, Manchester, UK. He had set out to develop a polymer matrix to mirror a diamond structure and discovered a resole (phenolic) resin that would, with special preparation, set without a catalyst. Using this resin the first glassy carbon was produced.
The preparation of glassy carbon involves subjecting the organic precursors to a series of heat treatments at temperatures up to 3000 °C. Unlike many non-graphitizing carbons, they are impermeable to gases and are chemically extremely inert, especially those prepared at very high temperatures. It has been demonstrated that the rates of oxidation of certain glassy carbons in oxygen, carbon dioxide or water vapour are lower than those of any other carbon. They are also highly resistant to attack by acids. Thus, while normal graphite is reduced to a powder by a mixture of concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids at room temperature, glassy carbon is unaffected by such treatment, even after several months.
Read more about this topic: Allotropes Of Carbon
Famous quotes containing the word glassy:
“Man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assur’d,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)