Fullerene-related structure of commercial glassy carbons

Glassy carbon is a technologically important material widely used in products such as electrodes and high-temperature crucibles. However, the properties which make glassy carbon so valuable in these applications are poorly understood, since its detailed atomic structure is not known. A model for the structure of glassy carbon put forward many years ago has gained wide acceptance, but appears to suffer from serious shortcomings. In particular, it fails to account for the chemical inertness of the carbon, and for its high proportion of closed porosity. Here I show, using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, that glassy carbons obtained from commercial suppliers contain a high proportion of fullerene-related structures. On the basis of these observations, models are put forward for the structures of ‘low-temperature’ and ‘high-temperature’ glassy carbons which incorporate non-six-membered rings.