Stabilization of linear carbon structures in a solid Ag nanoparticle assembly

Linear sp carbon nanostructures are gathering interest for the physical properties of one-dimensional systems. At present, the main obstacle to the synthesis and study of these systems is their instability. Here the authors present a simple method to obtain a solid system where linear sp chains (i.e., polyynes) in a silver nanoparticle assembly display a long term stability at ambient conditions. The presence and the behavior of linear carbon are investigated by surface enhanced Raman scattering exploiting the plasmon resonance of the silver nanoparticle assembly. This model system opens the possibility to investigate an intriguing form of carbon nanostructures. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.