Fullerene

About: Fullerene is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12723 publications have been published within this topic receiving 359173 citations.

Production of C60 and C70 fullerenes in benzene-oxygen flames

Abstract: Fullerene C 60 and C 70 were produced in varying amounts in premixed laminar benzene/oxygen/argon flame operated under range of conditions including pressure of 12-100 Torr and C/O ratios from O.717 to 1.072, the critical value for soot formation being 0.760. The fullerenes were identified in toluene extracts of condensed flame material including soot, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode-array spectrophotometric detection, mass spectrometry, and infrared spectrophotometry

Smallest carbon nanotube assigned with atomic resolution accuracy.

Abstract: The smallest carbon nanotubes with the chiral index (3,3), (4,3), or (5,1) were unambiguously identified for the first time. They were grown inside single-wall carbon nanotubes with the diameter of 1.0−1.2 nm, and the chiral indices were experimentally assigned beyond a doubt by an aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). In contrast to a theoretical prediction, the (3,3) nanotube is rather unstable and extremely sensitive to the electron beam and, therefore, may not survive alone without the protection of outer nanotube. The cap structure of (3,3) nanotube is also well-explained by a half-dome of C20 fullerene, which consists of six pentagons only.

Performance enhancement of fullerene-based solar cells by light processing

Abstract: Bulk heterojunctions based on semiconducting polymers blended with fullerenes are promising for organic solar cells. Li et al. show that an additional light exposure step during fabrication increases their thermal stability and can lead to enhanced device performance.

The reactivity of endohedral fullerenes. What can be learnt from computational studies

Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed major advances in the synthesis and characterization of endohedral fullerenes. These species have interesting physicochemical properties with many potential interesting applications in the fields of magnetism, superconductivity, nonlinear optical properties, radioimmunotherapy, and magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, among others. In addition to the synthesis and characterization, the chemical functionalization of these species has been a main focus of research for at least four reasons: first, to help characterize endohedral fullerenes that could not be well described structurally otherwise; second, to generate materials with fine-tuned properties leading to enhanced functionality in one of their multiple potential applications; third, to produce water-soluble endohedral fullerenes needed for their use in medicinal sciences; and fourth, to generate electron donor–acceptor conjugates that can be used in solar energy conversion/storage. The functionalization of these species has been achieved through different types of reactions, the most common being the Diels–Alder reactions, 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, Bingel–Hirsch reactions, and free-radical reactions. It has been found that the performance of these reactions in endohedral fullerenes may be quite different from that of the empty fullerenes. Indeed, encapsulated species have a large influence on the thermodynamics, kinetics, and regiochemistry of these reactions. A detailed understanding of the changes in chemical reactivity due to incarceration of atoms or clusters of atoms is essential to assist the synthesis of new functionalized endohedral fullerenes with specific properties. This Perspective seeks to highlight the key role played by computational chemistry in the analysis of the chemical reactivity of these systems. It is shown that the information obtained through calculations is highly valuable in the process of designing new materials based on endohedral fullerenes.