Fullerene Nanowhiskers

Fullerenes became a new member of carbon allotropes in addition to diamond and graphite through the discovery of C60 (carbon 60) by Kroto et al. in 1985. The model of C60 was first proposed by Osawa in 1970. C60 is a hollow spherical molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms that contains 12 five-membered rings and 20 six-membered rings and has the same structure as a soccer ball. In 2001, C60 fullerene nanowhiskers, which are the single-crystal nanowhiskers solely composed of C60 molecules, were discovered in a colloidal solution of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with added C60. Using the liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation (LLIP) method, various fullerene nanowhiskers (FNWs) composed of C70, C60 derivatives, and endohedral fullerenes such as Sc3N@C80 have been synthesized in addition to C60 FNWs. In 2004, single-crystal fullerene nanotubes (FNTs) composed of C70 and C60 molecules were successfully synthesized by the LLIP method. Furthermore, fullerene nanosheets composed of C60 and C70 were synthesized using the LLIP method. This book contains studies on the synthesis of FNWs, FNTs, and fullerene nanosheets, and the structural, mechanical, semiconducting, and thermal properties of FNWs and related fullerene nanomaterials as well as new chapters containing FNW superconductors, field electron emission application of FNWs, bio-related application of FNWs, and solar energy application of FNWs and fullerene hybrid nanomaterials. This book provides detailed state-of-the-art knowledge about FNWs and related low-dimensional fullerene nanomaterials.

Dr. Kun’ichi Miyazawa received his D.E. from the University of Tokyo in 1987. He was a lecturer in the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo from 1989 to 2002 and moved to National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in 2002. Dr. Miyazawa is currently engaged in the synthesis, characterization, and application of fullerene nanowhiskers, fullerene nanotubes and fullerene nanosheets as well as the structural characterization of fuel cell catalysts at Tokyo University of Science.