Carbon Bucky Ball

Other Unique Engineering Ideas

In the simplest buckyball or buckminsterfullerene are 60 carbon atoms with each carbon atom covalently bonded to three adjacent carbon atoms. The resultant sphere is around 1nm in diameter. Other fullerenes exist with their name given by the symbol for carbon, C, followed by the number of carbon atoms present, e.g. C60, C70 and C80.

1. Description

2. Why

3. How

4. Future Trends

5. Related Links

Useful Links molecular learning , nanotubes 

Description

Buckminster fullerenes, or buckyballs, are football-shaped carbon molecules containing 60 carbon atoms. The solid material formed by pure carbon buckyballs is weak and brittle, but by replacing 12 of the buckyball's carbon atoms with nitrogen, the ball's spherical cages acquire strength and elasticity.

  • C60 molecule can also absorb large numbers of hydrogen atoms this property suggests that fullerenes may be a better storage medium for hydrogen than metal hydrides, the best current material,

  • And hence possibly a key factor in the development of new batteries and even of non-polluting automobiles based on fuel cells.

  • A thin layer of the C70 fullerene, when deposited on a silicon chip, seems to provide a vastly improved template for growing thin films of diamond.

The balls resembled the geodesic dome shape designed by American, R. Buckminster Fuller, and the buckyball or fullerene was named in his honour. The simplest form of buckyball is the C60 Buckminsterfullerene. A shape instantly recognisable for it’s soccer ball like features. 

Why 

Unlike other molecules that are used to encapsulate drugs, fullerenes resist breakdown by the body. This stability is especially important for holding compounds that would cause harm if released in healthy cells, for example, radioactive metal atoms. The carbon based tubes can be carbon nanotubes, buckytubes and very long tubes are often referred to as nanowires. The balls are known as fullerines or buckyballs.Gonzalez and Wilson designed their compound to stick to hydroxyapatite. They also got a surprise when characterizing the compound:

  • The molecule has one unpaired electron, making it magnetic.

  • This property makes the compound a potential contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

  • A contrast agent injected into a patient can sharpen an MRI picture, revealing otherwise invisible features.

  • Fullerenes can deliver bone-building drugs for osteoporosis.

  • Carbon nanotubes are adept at entering the nuclei of cells and may one day be used to deliver drugs and vaccines. 

They have modified nanotubes to transport small peptide into the nuclei of fibroblast calls. This gives hope that the nanotubes may be useful for forming the basis of anti-cancer treatments, gene therapies and vaccines. The carbon nitride film can be applied as a protective top coat on hard discs. The protective layers also reduce mechanical wear and the accumulation of debris on the read/write head. 

How

In order to produce larger quantities for study purposes researchers from the Max Planck Institute and the University of Arizona combined forces to develop a method that used two carbon electrodes in a helium or neon atmosphere. When an arc was generated between the electrodes buckyballs were generated along with carbon soot that required removal by a solvent.When a buckyball encounters a free radical, the unpaired electron in the free radical joins with a delocalised electron in the buckyball. The buckyball is modified in order to make it water soluble and suitable for medical use. With pure carbon in the form of diamond-like carbon films [the process control enabled with magnetron sputtering and doping with nitrogen], the material will gradually be transformed from an insulator to a semi-metal and eventually to a conductor.Modifying a buckyball by adding or replacing an atom in order to change the properties of the buckyball is called functionalization.

  • Functionalized buckyballs are being developed for targeted drug delivery.

  • The buckyball encases a minute dose of a particular drug.

  • By controlling the functionalization of the buckyball the drug remains encased until the buckytube reaches the site where the drug is required.

  • The buckyball then releases it.

Researchers at the University of Linköping in Sweden have added nitrogen to buckyballs and made them strong and springy. Suggested applications for the material include a protective coating for hard disks.The layers are extremely thin, less than 5nm, and serve as diffusion barriers to prevent oxygen reaching the magnetic recording medium containing cobalt. August 1985 for Richard Smalley, Harry Kroto and Bob Curl to perform an experiment at Rice University in the USA 

Future Trends

With buckyballs having hardness akin to or greater than that of diamond, researchers have seen promise for buckyball use within armour. This hardness also allows buckyballs to be added to various polymers to make them stronger.Modified buckyballs are also being developed as antioxidants for use in humans. Catalysts, in fact, appear to be a natural application for fullerenes, given their combination of rugged structure and high reactivity.Experiments suggest that fullerenes which incorporate alkali metals possess catalytic properties resembling those of platinum. It is too early to make reliable forecasts of commercial potential, although the early indications are that buckyballs may represent a technological bonanza when their properties are fully understood.

Keywords

Buckminster fullerenes, buckyballs, nanoelectronics, nanotubes

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