Nanowerk  January 6, 2023 To explore how coal can be converted into valuable materials like graphite researchers at Ohio University simulated the substances in computer software. They created a simplified “coal” that consisted of only carbon atoms in random position and exposed them to pressure and high temperature — about 3,000 Kelvin. They formed sheets, but the carbon atoms didn’t entirely develop simple, six-carbon rings. A fraction of the rings had five carbons; others had seven. While six-carbon rings were flat, five- and seven-membered carbon rings puckered. The conditions in these simulations caused the sheets to curve in on themselves […]