A look at how fullerenes and the wide range of applications for these fascinating materials.
Discovered in 1985, fullerenes are compounds composed solely of an even number of carbon atoms, which form a cage-like fused-ring polycyclic system with 12 five-membered rings and the rest six-membered rings. The archetypal example is the sixty-atom structure, where the atoms and bonds delineate a truncated icosahedron (it is shaped like a soccer ball). S
The unique molecular structures of fullerenes lead to interesting photonic, electronic, superconducting, magnetic and biomedical properties. These include: Superconductivity; Heat resistance; Physcial and chemical stability (breaking the balls requires temperatures of about 1000 °C); Highest packing density of all known structures; Impenetrability to all elements under normal circumstances, even to a helium atom with an energy of 5 eV.
Fullerenes are being developed for a plethora of markets including pharmaceuticals (novel therapeutics); anti-oxidants; imaging contrast agents; catalysts for hydrocarbon upgrading (of heavy oils, methane into higher HC, thermal stability of fuels etc.); lubricants; specialty polymers for solar cells, coatings and fiber optics; composites (sports equipment, automotive, aviation and aerospace) and electronics (Polymers with specifiable physical, optical, electrical or magnetic properties for use in data recording and storing). C60 has been applied in a number of different consumer products such as sports gear (badminton and tennis rackets), cosmetics and personal care products (anti-aging, eyeliner, skin creams, etc.) and lubricants (motor oil).
Medicine
Ensysce Biosciences, Inc. is focused on the use of fullerene carbon nanotubes for novel therapeutic applications specifically in the area of cancer treatment. The use of fullerene carbon nanotubes has the goal of solving two important problems for many cancer therapeutics, that of delivering large active agents into the desired location and of protecting normal tissue from the active agent during delivery.
Fuel Cells
Honjo Chemical Corporation is developing fullerenes for fuel cell and flat panel display applications. They also supply various lithium material and products such as cathode materials for Lithium-Ion Battery. The company has a nanotube and fullerene mass-production plant in Japan at Neyagawa Factory under a cooperation agreement with Mitsubishi Corp., Fullerene International Corp. and MER Corp.
Composites
Fullerenes display extremely high wear, high toughness, and corrosion resistance in metal matrix composites as well as in additions to polymers. Tension and compression strengths have been demonstrated to increase 2–12% by dispersing 0.5% of fullerene into a matrix resin.
Cosmetics
C60 fullerene is being used in a variety of personal care products. Fullerenes display a wide range of biological activities such as potent scavenging capacities against radical oxygen species (ROS) and excellent potential as biological antioxidants. They are being utilized as active compounds in the preparation of skin rejuvenation cosmetic formulations.
Catalysts
SRI International is developing fullerenes as efficient hydrogen-transfer catalyst supports. Fullerenes ability to catalyze hydrodealkylations makes them potentially useful for petroleum upgrading and fullerene soot is very effective in converting methane into higher hydrocarbons.
Photovoltaics
Organic Solar cell s(OPV) incorporating conjugated polymer donor and fullerene acceptor have been developed. Several companies are developing fullerene-based polymer solar cell technology, including Konarka, Siemens, Philips, and STMicroelectronics, but low efficiencies prevent large-scale production at present.
Electronics
Fullerenes have applications in electromechanical and electromagnetic materials, FRAM chip technology, highly integrated circuits and mass storage media. Fullerenes are known as excellent electron acceptors and can be chemically modified to improve solubility in organic solvents.
Lubricants
NanoLub® from ApNano Materials is a fullerene based solid lubricant that the company claims has been shown in numerous independent tests to reduce friction and wear significantly better than conventional lubricants, especially under extreme conditions such as very high loads.
