Document · December 2025
Discovery of Naturally Occurring Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Graphitic Carbon on the Far Side of the Moon (Nano Letters, 2026)
Zhang W., Wang Z., Liu F. … Zheng W., Zou M. (16 authors, Jilin University). Nano Letters 26(2): 917-925, online 30 December 2025, DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c05812. Announced by the China National Space Administration on 20 January 2026. Closed access.
First single-walled carbon nanotubes found in nature. The authors propose iron-catalysed formation driven by micrometeorites, volcanism and solar wind, not reproduced in a lab. Far-side tubes carry more defects than near-side Chang'e-5 carbon.