  Linear sp carbon nanostructures are gathering interest for the physical
properties of one-dimensional (1D) systems. At present, the main obstacle to
the synthesis and study of these systems is their instability. Here we present
a simple method to obtain a solid system where linear sp chains (i.e. polyynes)
in a silver nanoparticle assembly display a long term stability at ambient
conditions. The presence and the behavior of linear carbon is investigated by
Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) exploiting the plasmon resonance of
the silver nanoparticles assembly. This model system opens the possibility to
investigate an intriguing form of carbon nanostructures.

Materials Science