Carbon clusters formed from shocked benzene

D M Dattelbaum; E B Watkins; M A Firestone; R C Huber; R L Gustavsen; B S Ringstrand; J D Coe; D Podlesak; A E Gleason; H J Lee; E Galtier; R L Sandberg

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-25471-0

Carbon clusters formed from shocked benzene

Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 1;12(1):5202. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25471-0.

Authors

D M Dattelbaum¹, E B Watkins², M A Firestone², R C Huber³, R L Gustavsen³, B S Ringstrand², J D Coe⁴, D Podlesak⁵, A E Gleason⁶, H J Lee⁷, E Galtier⁷, R L Sandberg^{2

8}

Affiliations

¹ Shock and Detonation Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA. danadat@lanl.gov.
² Materials Physics and Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
³ Shock and Detonation Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
⁴ Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
⁵ Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
⁶ Fundamental Physics Directorate, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
⁷ Linac Coherent Light Source, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, N261 Eyring Science Center, Provo, UT, USA.

Abstract

Benzene (C₆H₆), while stable under ambient conditions, can become chemically reactive at high pressures and temperatures, such as under shock loading conditions. Here, we report in situ x-ray diffraction and small angle x-ray scattering measurements of liquid benzene shocked to 55 GPa, capturing the morphology and crystalline structure of the shock-driven reaction products at nanosecond timescales. The shock-driven chemical reactions in benzene observed using coherent XFEL x-rays were a complex mixture of products composed of carbon and hydrocarbon allotropes. In contrast to the conventional description of diamond, methane and hydrogen formation, our present results indicate that benzene's shock-driven reaction products consist of layered sheet-like hydrocarbon structures and nanosized carbon clusters with mixed sp²-sp³ hybridized bonding. Implications of these findings range from guiding shock synthesis of novel compounds to the fundamentals of carbon transport in planetary physics.

Grants and funding

N/A/U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)