An egg-shaped fullerene, or “buckyball egg” has been made and characterized by chemists in America at UC Davis (California), Virginia Tech, and Emory and Henry College in Virginia. They were trying to encapsulate terbium atoms within fullerenes but instead encapsulated terbium nitride within an egg-shaped fullerene. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja063636k]
The compound Tb3N@C84 was synthesized using an arc-discharge generator by vaporizing composite graphite rods containing a mixture of Tb4O7, graphite, and iron nitride as catalyst in a low-pressure He/N2atmosphere.
WebElements August 6th, 2006
Posted In: Chemistry, Crystallography, Nanoscience and nanotechnology