Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T23:38:29.760Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Shape and Fantasy of Fullerenes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Eiji Ōsawa ,
Mitsuho Yoshida  and
Mitsutaka Fujita
Get access

Extract

One of the many wonders that fullerenes have brought to us during the past few years is the variety of their shapes. When the elusive C60 finally showed up in 1990, the perfect symmetry and astounding beauty of its molecular structure touched the hearts of scientists before they could consider the molecule's vast technical possibilities. Already much has been said about the unique shape of C60 and its potentialities. C70 and higher fullerenes have simultaneously been found in the same soot that produced C60 and were quickly revealed to be shaped like rugby balls or oblong eggs. Hence we were aware that there had to be an extensive series of roundish polyhedral clusters of carbon atoms.

Then, in the following year, multilayered tubular fullerenes (Figures 1a and 1b) were discovered by Iijima and were named buckytubes (see the article by Iijima in this issue). Iijima also observed similarly huge and multilayered carbon balls, before C60 was discovered. Soon after, buckyonions were recognized as an important class of fullerene (Figure 1c, see article by Ugarte in this issue). So, in the early days of fullerene research, we already knew three forms of fullerene: sphere, tube, and particle. At that time, however, nobody anticipated that this was only the beginning of a big show of stunning variations in the shapes of fullerenes. This article introduces current developments in the study of these fullerene styles.

Type
Fullerenes
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 19 , Issue 11 , November 1994 , pp. 33 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. A number of reviews and books on fullerenes have been published. Two recent ones are The Chemistry of Fullerenes, Hirsch, A. (Thieme, Berlin, 1993); and Perfect Symmetry: The Accidental Discovery of a New Form of Carbon, J. Baggott, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994).Google Scholar
2.Iijima, S., Nature (London) 354 (1991) p. 56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Iijima, S., J. Phys. Chem. 91 (1987) p. 3466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Saito, Y., Yoshikawa, T., Inagaki, M., Tomita, M., and Hayashi, T., Chem. Phys. Lett. 204 (1993) p. 277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Subramoney, S., Ruoff, R.S., Lorents, D.C., and Malhotra, R., Nature (London) 366 (1993) p. 637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Saito, Y. and Yoshikawa, T., J. Cryst. Growth 134 (1993) p. 154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6a.Seraphin, S., Zhou, D., liao, I., Minke, M.A., Wang, S., Yadov, T., and Withers, J.C., Chem. Phys. Lett. 217 (1994) p. 191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Endo, M., presented before the Sixth C60 General Symposium, Tokyo, January 1994.Google Scholar
8.Ivanov, V., Nagy, J.B., Lambin, P., Lucas, A., Zhang, X.B., Zhang, X.F., Bernaerts, D., Van Tendeloo, G., Amelinckx, S., and Van Landuyt, J., Chem. Phys. Lett. 223 (1994) p. 329; and S. Ihara, S. Itoh, and J. Kitakami, Phys. Rev. B 48 (1993) p. 5643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Chernozatonskii, L.A., Phys. Lett. A 172 (1992) p. 173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Scuseria, G.E., Chem. Phys. Lett. 195 (1992) p. 534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. “Magic Number 5 Again to the Fore!” Trinajstic, N., Croat. Chem. Acta 66 (1993) p. 227.Google Scholar
12.Fujita, M., Yoshida, M., and Ōsawa, E., Fullerene Sci. Technol., in press.Google Scholar
13. We are indebted to Dr. S. Iijima for instructing us to look into the local bamboo products.Google Scholar
14.Iijima, S., Ichihashi, T., and Ando, Y., Nature (London) 356 (1992) p. 776.Google Scholar
15.Iijima, S., Ajayan, P.M., and Ichihashi, T., Phys. Rev. Lett. 69 (1992) p. 3100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Kirby, E.C., Mallion, R.B., and Pollak, P., J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 89 (1993) p. 1945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Chung, F. and Sternberg, S., Am. Scientist 81 (1993) p. 56.Google Scholar
18. As shown below, the surface-modifying rings are not limited to pentagons and heptagons. Any ring size close to six seems usable.Google Scholar
19.Karfunkel, H.R. and Dressier, T., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 114 (1992) p. 2285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Baughman, R.H. and Galvao, D.S., Nature (London) 365 (1993) p. 735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar