NANOTECHNOLOGY

Fullerenes Structures and Properties

Sakthivishnu.R MTech Nano Technology

What are fullerenes?

Fullerenes are closed hollow cages consisting of carbon atoms

interconnected in pentagonal and hexagonal rings.

The most famous fullerene is C60, known also by buckyball ". Other relatively common clusters are C70, C72, C74, C76, C80, C82

and C84 (plenty of others, higher or lower than C60, exist too but less abundant in the experimentally produced mixture fullerene soot).
The suffix ene indicates that each C atom is covalently bonded

to three others.

Carbon-carbon bonds in the sp2 hybridization configuration

Each carbon atom on the cage surface is bonded to three carbon

neighbors therefore is sp2 hybridized.

Allotropes of carbon
Allotropes : Different structural modifications of an element; the atoms of the element are bonded together in a different manner. Allotropes of carbon: Diamond (hardest natural mineral) Graphite(dry lubricant, graphene) Amorphous carbon (coal and soot) Fullerene family (C60, carbon nanotubes etc)

Synthesis of C60
Arc vaporization of graphite is always known as Kratschmer-

huffman method. The graphite disk is evaporated with a Nd:YAG laser and the evaporated carbon plasma is cooled by a stream of helium coming from a pulsed valve. The clusters of carbon are produced in the integration cup and are expanded into vacuum. The ions are detected by time of flight mass spectrometry (ions mass to charge ratio is measured via time).

Synthesis of C60 setup

Purification of fullerenes
Schematic illustration of the processed involved in the synthesis and purification of fullerenes. Graphite rods are evaporated in an arc, under He atmosphere. The soot collected is extracted with toluene and subjected to chromatography.

Different structure of buckyballs

Another fairly common fullerene is C70, but fullerenes with 72,

76, 84 and even up to 100 carbon atoms are commonly obtained. In mathematical terms, the structure of a fullerene is a trivalent convex polyhedron with pentagonal and hexagonal faces.
Fullerenes contain carbon atoms arranged as a combination of 12

pentagonal rings and n hexagonal rings. The chemical formula is C20+2n. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in soccer, also like ellipsoid or tubes. Buckminsterfullerene formula c60 made of twenty hexagon and twelve pentagons.

Different structure of buckyballs

Properties
Quite stable from chemical and physical points of view (breaking

the balls requires temperatures of about 1000 C). Highest tensile strength of any known 2d structure or element. Highest packing density of all known structures. Impenetrable to all elements under normal circumstances, even to a helium atom with an energy of 5 ev. Use of fullerenes as light-activated antimicrobial agents. several structural isomers. Fullerenes are the only known allotrope of carbon that can be dissolved in common solvents at room temperature.

C76 has two optical forms, while other higher fullerenes have

Commercial productions
The world's first computer controlled fullerene production plant

is now operational at the MER corporation, who pioneered the first commercial production of fullerene and fullerene products. Using room-temperature processing, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have fabricated high-performance field effect transistors with thin films of carbon 60, also known as fullerene.

Solubility
Fullerenes are stable, but not totally insensitive. Fullerenes are sparingly soluble in many solvents. Common solvents for the fullerenes include aromatics, such as

toluene, and others like carbon disulfide. Solutions of pure buckminsterfullerene have a deep purple color. Solutions of C70 are a reddish brown. The higher fullerenes C76 to C84 have a variety of colors.

Applications

Due to their extremely resilient and sturdy nature, fullerenes are being considered for use in combat armor. Researchers have found that water-soluble derivates of fullerenes inhibit the HIV-1 protease (the breakdown of proteins into smaller polypeptides or amino acid. This generally occurs by the hydrolysis of the peptide bond) and are therefore useful in fighting the HIV virus that leads to AIDS. Elements can be bonded with C60 or other fullerenes to create more diverse materials, including superconductors and insulators. Field-effect transistors with thin films of carbon 60

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