Fullerene
A fullerene is any molecule composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. Spherical fullerenes are also called buckyballs, and they resemble the balls used in association football. Cylindrical ones are called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes. They are usually made in the form of a hollow ball or tube. The fullerene was found in 1985 by Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley at the University of Sussex and Rice University, and was named after Buckminster Fuller because his famous Geodesic domes are similar in shape.
Fullerenes are made by the heating of graphite in an electric arc in the presence of inert gases such as helium or argon.
Rotating structure of C60
A soccer ball is a model of the C60 fullerene
Network of the C60 fullerene
.svg)
Fullerene Media
Model of the C60 fullerene (buckminsterfullerene).
Model of the C20 fullerene.
Model of a carbon nanotube.
C60 fullerite (bulk solid C60).
The icosahedral fullerene C540, another member of the family of fullerenes
C60 with isosurface of ground state electron density as calculated with DFT
Rotating view of C60, one kind of fullerene
This rotating model of a carbon nanotube shows its 3D structure.
Fullerite (scanning electron microscope image)
These are Buckminster-Fullerenes (C60) in a Solution.
