Issue 28, 2008
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry

Controlled growth of true nanoscale single crystal fullerites for device applications

Lok Cee Chong,a   Jeremy Sloan,b   Gabriele Wagner,c   S. Ravi P. Silvaa  and  Richard J. Curry*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK
E-mail: r.j.curry@surrey.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)1483 689404
Tel: +44 (0)1483 682713

b Department of Engineering and Materials, Queen Mary College, University of London, London, UK
E-mail: j.sloan@qmul.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)20 8983 1007
Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 5154

c Department of Chemistry, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK

Abstract

A systematic study on the effect of varying a number of experimental parameters including temperature, solvent and concentration on the nature of C60 crystalline structures (fullerites) grown using the liquid–liquid precipitation method is reported. A variety of fullerite structures of varying degrees of quality are obtained depending on the conditions used. We present evidence of a solvent dependent annealing effect leading to an improvement in fullerite quality. Variation of the alcohol C60 solubility is seen to generally lead to an increase in the size of the fullerite rods obtained which may also be related to the relative polarity of the solvents used. It was observed that aromatic solvents containing electron withdrawing groups tended to destabilise fullerite rod growth. We report the smallest repeatable pristine single crystal fullerite rods grown with diameters of ∼80 nm, representing close to an order of magnitude decrease in scale compared to other structures obtained using this method. The growth of these structures raises questions regarding the currently assumed method of growth based on C60 colloid formation. The new class of small fullerites obtained are characterised for their structural, physical and optical properties.

Graphical abstract: Controlled growth of true nanoscale single crystal fullerites for device applications

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/B802417K
Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Feb 2008
Accepted
22 Apr 2008
First published
21 May 2008

J. Mater. Chem., 2008,18, 3319-3324

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Controlled growth of true nanoscale single crystal fullerites for device applications

L. C. Chong, J. Sloan, G. Wagner, S. R. P. Silva and R. J. Curry, J. Mater. Chem., 2008, 18, 3319 DOI: 10.1039/B802417K

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