Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy of a non-graphitizing carbon, C S Allen, F Ghamouss, O Boujibar and P J F Harris, Proc Roy Soc A, 578 20210580 (2022).

This is a study of the atomic structure of an activated carbon using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. The images showed clear evidence for the presence of pentagonal and heptagonal carbon rings. This provides support for a model of the structure of this kind of carbon which was put forward by myself and S C Tsang in 1997. In this model the structure is made up of curved fragments in which non-hexagonal rings are dispersed randomly throughout hexagonal networks. The carbons, which were prepared by Fouad Ghamouss and Ouassim Boujibar of the University of Tours, France, had exceptionally high surface areas and open structures, making them ideal for imaging. The electron microscopy was carried out at the Electron Physical Science Imaging Centre at the Diamond Light Source in the UK by Chris Allen. A schematic drawing of the proposed structure of the carbon appeared on the cover of the journal.

Rosalind Franklin, carbon scientist, P J F Harris and I Suarez-Martinez, Carbon 171 289 (2021).

In this paper, Irene Suarez-Martinez of Curtin University, Australia, and I aimed to draw attention to Rosalind Franklin’s outstanding carbon research, which she carried before her far more famous work on DNA and viruses. The point of the paper was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Franklin’s birth in 2020. For reasons best known to themselves, the journal decided to publish it in the first issue of 2021.

Microscopy and literature, P J F Harris Endeavour 43 100695 (2019).

In this article I talk about literary works which have been influenced by microscopy, or in which microscopy has played a significant role. There are more of these than you might think. The work of writers including Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, George Eliot, H. G. Wells and D. H. Lawrence is discussed.

Transmission Electron Microscopy of Carbon: A Brief History, P J F Harris C 4 4 (2018).

This review, published in the open-access journal “C” describes the ways in which TEM has been used in the study of solid carbon since the 1940s.

Carbon Nanotube Science
Synthesis, Properties and Applications

Cambridge University Press, 2009.

ISBN-10 0521005337

Essentially an updated version of book I wrote in 1999 (see below), but solely covering carbon nanotubes

Review by Dirk Guldi, Chemistry World: ‘You will hardly find a more comprehensive reference on the science of carbon nanotubes. Written by Peter Harris, 12 individual chapters incorporate the most recent technological advances and research developments on an exceptionally timely topic. This new book is an appropriate addition to its predecessor Carbon Nanotubes and Related Structures…. Personally, I would recommend this book to chemical physicists and physical chemists, and to those broadly interested in nanoscience.’

Carbon Nanotubes and Related Structures
New Materials for the Twenty-first Century

Cambridge University Press, 1999

ISBN-10 0521828953

The first single-author book on carbon nanotubes. As well as nanotubes themselves, it covered curved crystals, inorganic fullerenes and nanorods.