ABSTRACT
Potential applications of inorganic carbon materials are well known: lead pencils, graphite fi bers, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), diamonds, amorphous carbon fi lters, chromatographic column packing materials and sieves, hardeners in steel, moderator material in nuclear reactors, plastics, paints, and lubricants. Organic chemistry has given us the polymer and its multitude of applications. Organic carbon, in the form of dinosaurs, Paleozoic and Mesozoic plants, and plankton, was transformed over the ages into oil that powers our civilization.
