Strong and ductile colossal carbon tubes with walls of rectangular macropores.

We report a new type of carbon material-porous colossal carbon tubes. Compared with carbon nanotubes, colossal carbon tubes have a much bigger size, with a diameter of between 40 and 100 mum and a length in the range of centimeters. Significantly, the walls of the colossal tubes are composed of macroscopic rectangular columnar pores and exhibit an ultralow density comparable to that of carbon nanofoams. The porous walls of colossal tubes also show a highly ordered lamellar structure similar to that of graphite. Furthermore, colossal tubes possess excellent mechanical and electrical properties.