The beginnings of nanoscience can be associated with the discovery that carbon atoms form a large variety of crystalline structures via self-organization.
The best known example is the so-called C60 (see figure), a miniature soccer ball of 1 nanometer in diameter. As well as C60, nanotubes of carbon have also attracted particular interest.
They posses many unusual electronic and mechanical properties and could be used for ultra-tough materials as well as for computer screens.

Neutron diffraction and neutron spectroscopy are ideal tools for probing how the carbon atoms are organized and how they move in these nanostructures.