The development and prospects of carbon science——A report on the annual world conference on carbon, Carbon’09

The annual world carbon conference, Carbon’09, was held in Biarritz, France on 1419, June, 2009, which gathered 602 attendants from 46 countries contributing 4 plenary lectures, 36 keynote lecturess, 208 oral presentations, 2 award lectures and 624 posters under 11 topics including natural carbons, carbons grown or deposited from gas phase and plasmas, carbons from soft precursors, energy storage and conversion, carbonbased composites and their mechanical properties, chemical and physical modifications, liquid and gas storage, adsorption, electronic/optical/optoelectronic properties and applications, nuclear and solar applications, thermal management, biocarbons related to biology/toxicity/health, and advances in processing/characterization/modeling. Carbon in the universe, the carbon cycle, carbon and health, and the direction observation of carbon at the atomic level were the subjects of the plenary lectures. Current active research on carbons can be summarized in the following five aspects: (1) significant efforts have been made on experimental research combined with simulation/modeling on the structure, formation mechanism, properties and applications of porous carbon, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, composites, aerogels and intercalation compounds. The synthesis of biocarbon or carbon nanomaterials in a green, economic, and effective manner to alleviate the greenhouse gas effect is drawing more and more attention; (2) research on porous carbons in environmental protection and energy storage has been on the top of the agenda of carbon scientists; (3) the electromagnetic, optoelectronic and field emission application of CNTs and graphenes, and the nuclear, solar energy and thermal application of graphite and carbon constitute a main research field of carbon science; (4) research of medical applications, biomaterials and biocompatability of carbon materials is receiving more and more attention; (5) the measurement and observation of carbon materials by means of high resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectrometry and electron energy loss spectrometry have been strengthened by other characterization means and simulations to assure more accurate structural information on carbon materials.