Amorphous carbon

Amorphous carbon is carbon material without the long-range crystalline order found in graphite or diamond. Its atoms can still form short-range arrangements of bonded carbon.

Carbon: Carbon is a chemical element whose atoms form stable bonds with many elements and with other carbon atoms. Amorphous carbon is one structural form of this element.
Short-range order: Short-range order is regular atomic arrangement that persists over nearby neighbors but not across long distances. Amorphous carbon lacks long-range crystallinity while retaining local atomic patterns.
Lithium-ion battery: A lithium-ion battery stores and releases energy through reversible movement of lithium ions between electrodes. Disordered carbon can serve as an anode material for storing lithium.
Graphite: Graphite is a crystalline carbon allotrope made of stacked layers of hexagonally arranged carbon atoms. Its extended layered order contrasts with the limited structural coherence of amorphous carbon.
Carbon allotrope: A carbon allotrope is a distinct structural form of elemental carbon. This broader category places amorphous carbon alongside crystalline forms.
Raman spectroscopy: Raman spectroscopy probes vibrational modes by measuring inelastic scattering of light. Its spectral bands help assess disorder and bonding in carbon materials.
Supercapacitor: A supercapacitor stores electrical energy mainly through charge separation at electrode surfaces. Porous amorphous carbons provide high-area electrodes for charge storage.
Diamond: Diamond is a crystalline carbon allotrope in which each carbon atom bonds tetrahedrally to four neighbors. Its regular three-dimensional lattice contrasts with disordered tetrahedral carbon.
sp² hybridization: sp² hybridization describes bonding with three in-plane orbitals and one unhybridized p orbital. Threefold-bonded carbon often forms disordered, graphene-like regions in amorphous material.
Electron energy-loss spectroscopy: Electron energy-loss spectroscopy measures energy transferred from electrons passing through a material. Its carbon-edge signals can estimate the material’s sp² and sp³ bonding.

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Amorphous solidBroader topic: Its variable local bonding produces materials used in coatings, electrodes, and hard films.