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Watching buckyballs shrink

PRL 99, 175503 (2007);   Jianyu Huang, Feng Ding, Kun Jiao, Boris I Yakobson

Youtube Movie:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSNlE8AreeM    http://www.nature.com/nnano/reshigh/2007/1107/full/nnano.2007.404.html

We report in situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy observing the shrinkage of singlelayer giant fullerenes (GF). At temperatures 2000 C, the GF volume reduces by greater than one 100-fold while the fullerene shell remains intact, evolving from a slightly polygonized to a nearly spherical shape with a smaller diameter. The number of carbon atoms in the GF decreases linearly with time until the small subbuckyball cage opens and rapidly disappears. Theoretical modeling indicates that carbon atoms are removed predominantly from the weakest binding energy sites, i.e., the pentagons, leading to the constant evaporation rate. The fullerene cage integrity is attributed to the collective behavior of interacting defects. These results constitute the first experimental evidence for the ‘‘shrink-wrapping’’ and ‘‘hot-giant’’ fullerene formation mechanisms.

News Fullerene PRL

http://www.nature.com/nnano/reshigh/2007/1107/full/nnano.2007.404.html
http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/buckyball.html

http://technology.newscientist.com/article/dn12848-shrinkwrapped-buckyba...
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202800147
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/31675
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071026162143.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/ru-vsb102607.php
http://www.media.rice.edu/media/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=10176&SnID=9264...
http://www.azonano.com/news.asp?newsID=5198
http://www.physnews.com/showlink.php?id=99505
http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/story-112637658.html
http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=25943
http://www.nanotechnology.com/news/?id=11613

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