Heterofullerene molecula. (Credit: See citation at the end of this article)Scientists from several British, Spanish and Russian research centers have come up with a method of synthesizing a new type of nickel-carbon compound.
The article titled “Formation of nickel-carbon heterofullerenes under electron irradiation” has been published by Dalton Transactions and is available as a preprint (see footnote).
Heterofullerenes are hollow molecules with a nearly-spherical shape, which, unlike the typical fullerenes, contain atoms of elements other than carbon. Such compounds were synthesized quite a while ago, in 1991, but till now no heterofullerenes containing nickel, or any other transition metal, have been obtained. Yet, as the authors point out in their article, transition metals are now being studied as catalysts in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes and graphene.
The synthesis of nickel heterofullerenes is supposed to be carried out under electron irradiation, which is used in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) in order to obtain detailed snapshots showing, if needed, separate atoms. A number of previous experiments conducted by various research groups demonstrated that electronic irradiation can also be applied to synthesize a variety of nanostructures, e.g., one-layer carbon fullerene-filled nanotubes were transformed into two-layer ones.
Using the latest data obtained from the HRTEM images and the results of computer modeling by methods of molecular dynamics, the scientists have shown the potential possibility to transform graphene flakes with nickel cluster into nickel-carbon heterofullerene.
The scientists, though, are not sure about the practical application of such heterofullerenes. According to the study’s leading author, Andrey Popov, “these new-type molecules can reveal some interesting electronic, magnetic, and optic features, or it may be possible to combine them with some organic functional complexes of interest to biologists and physicians. They can also be used to create 3D organic-metallic structures to store hydrogen.”
Sinitsa, A., Lebedeva, I., Knizhnik, A., Popov, A., Skowron, S., & Bichoutskaia, E. (2014). Formation of nickel–carbon heterofullerenes under electron irradiation Dalton Transactions, 43 (20) DOI: 10.1039/c3dt53385a
