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Buckyballs and nanotechnology Nanotechnology has now become a field that many scientists around the world are competing to study; who will be able to dominate in this field? That might determine the strength of a nation’s power in the future. As one of the most significant advancements in nanotechnology over the past decade or so, buckyballs are attracting increasing attention due to their various applications. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Robert Curl and Richard Smalley, professors at Rice University in the United States, and Harold Kroto, a professor at the University of Sussex in the UK, in recognition of their discovery in 1985 of the spherical structure of carbon. A press release from the Royal Academy of Sciences states that three scientists accidentally discovered a new structure of carbon in a space-based experiment on carbon molecules in 1985 – the fullerene structure, which consists of a hollow cage made up of 60 or more carbon atoms. The molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms, namely carbon 60, resembles a football in shape; carbon in this structure is also known as a \"buckyball\". Scientists had long dreamed of creating a porous molecule to hold or transport different atoms and ions, and carbon 60 fulfilled this dream. Currently, scientists are trying to open the \"gate\" in order to introduce atoms and ions into it, turning it into molecular containers capable of producing various derivatives, as well as into special functional materials such as shields for radioactive compounds or carriers for delivering drugs. Their discovery opened up new fields in chemical research, and it holds great significance for the study of cosmic chemistry, superconductivity, materials chemistry, materials physics, and even medicine. At least one-third of the newly published chemistry papers currently deal with this topic. Richard Feynman was the first person to propose the idea of nanotechnology. In 1959, this renowned American physicist outlined the basic concepts of nanotechnology in an informal lecture at the California Institute of Technology. But the true advocate of nanotechnology was an unassuming dreamer who had turned from an engineer into one: Eric Drexler. Drexler, 41 years old today, was a college student at MIT in the mid-1970s; he was inspired to think about genetic engineering after reading about it in a technology library. At that time, biologists were still studying how to control the molecules that make up DNA strands. Drexler wondered, why can’t inorganic machines be built from atoms? It was only later that he learned that Van Man had put forward similar ideas almost twenty years earlier. This idea fascinated Draxler, and by the time he graduated in 1977, he had **advanced this research. He thought, why not build machines with the ability to replicate themselves? One machine becomes two, two become four, and then eight... and so on, infinitely. By adding this function to machines that can process simple raw materials into specific inorganic products, he believes the only possible outcome is the unimaginable wealth it will generate. The small robots, which Draxler refers to as assembly workers, can produce an endless amount of food for those who are hungry, or build countless houses for the homeless. They can also travel through human blood vessels and repair cells, thereby preventing diseases and aging. In fact, one day humans will be able to have leisure time for relaxation, while nanobots can take on all the work in the world, just as science fiction writers have described. The reaction of most mainstream scientists at the time was: Nonsense! ! But the invention of the bucky ball prompted researchers to start working on this. James Kinzhevsky is a physicist at IBM’s research laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland. The tunneling scanning microscope that he and his colleagues worked on had an extremely fine probe, capable of detecting the presence of atoms through a material’s surface, just as blind people read braille. When they discovered that the tip of the microscope could also scrape across clusters of atoms like a plow, leaving behind tiny grooves, they began to experiment with individual atoms for fun, and they even used 35 xenon atoms to form the three letters of IBM. Then Kinzhevsky and a few of his colleagues thought of using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and some buckyballs to create a computing machine. In November 1996, they introduced the world’s first molecular abacus. The abacus is very simple – just 10 beads arranged in a row along a thin groove on a copper surface. For the calculation, Kinzevsky used the probe of a tunneling scanning microscope to drag the Bucky ball around. The fine grooves are actually tiny steps that naturally appear on the copper surface, allowing Zinovievsky to perform calculations at room temperature. Theoretically, the capacity of Zinovievsky’s abacus to store information is 1 billion times that of conventional computer memory. Although it is still cumbersome to apply in practice, it shows that scientists have become highly skilled at handling extremely small objects – it could even be the first step toward creating machines on a molecular scale. The technology for moving individual molecules or atoms is key to developing next-generation electronic components. This technology won the 8th Innovation Technology “Discovery” Award. When it comes to the bouzouki, one must mention its sibling, the bouzoukia. Bucky tubes are carbon molecular materials that have a different shape from bucky balls but similar properties; their size is on the order of nanometers, which is why they are also known as nanotubes. Their strength is 100 times higher than that of steel, but their weight is only one-sixth that of steel. They are extremely small; 50,000 of them placed side by side are only as wide as a human hair. Both buckyballs and nanotubes form naturally when carbon is vaporized into individual atoms and then aggregates in a vacuum or inert gas; as these carbon atoms come together, they arrange themselves into various geometric shapes. Buckyballs are a combination of pentagons and hexagons, and different combinations result in various shapes. However, typical nanotubes are entirely composed of hexagons – each ring consists of ten hexagons, although there are other structures as well. Bucky balls and Bucky tubes possess various properties, and researchers have been exploring their potential applications in the fields of lasers, superconductivity, and medicine. And many achievements have been made. Know yourself and your enemy: The study of the Buckyball theory is based on Buckyballs. French and American scientists have discovered that single-layer nanotubes made from single layers of carbon possess a regular structure and predictable behavior patterns. These extremely tiny tubes can be used in many fields, ranging from future electronic devices to super-strong materials. This achievement was ranked as one of the top 10 scientific and technological breakthroughs of 1997 by the American journal Science. A group of chemists from the University of California, Berkeley, published a paper stating that they have successfully separated left-handed and right-handed molecules in buccine molecules for the first time. This is the first time scientists have isolated a mirror-symmetric form of a molecule in a molecule composed of a single element. Although the most famous buckyballs are hollow spherical molecules with a lattice structure composed of 60 carbon atoms, buckyballs made up of 60 carbon atoms (also known as carbon-60 buckyball molecules) exhibit a pentagonal or hexagonal shape with high symmetry. Therefore, chemists at the University of California chose buckyballs composed of 76 carbon atoms (also known as carbon-76 buckyball molecules) as subjects for studying the separation of left-handed and right-handed molecules. The Carbon 76 Buckyball has a slightly flattened spherical structure, which is different from other Buckyball molecules that have been studied by scientists so far. The asymmetric shape of this buky ball creates the conditions for the formation of left- and right-handed molecules, and it also enables scientists to separate these two types of molecules. Buckyball Hercules Cup Significant progress has been made in the research on the applications of buckyballs: (1) Superconductivity In 1993, the Institute of Molecular Science at the Okazaki National Joint Research Institute in Japan synthesized a new superconductor containing C60 molecules. This new superconductor is composed of a compound of sodium and nitrogen along with C60. 60 carbon molecules gather together to form a football-like shape. According to Hiroo Iguchi, director of the Okazaki National Joint Research Institute who was involved in synthesizing this new superconductor, they first mixed sodium nitride and C60 powder in a certain ratio, then placed the mixture in a vacuum, and sintered it at 370 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes to produce the new superconductor. To prevent this mixture from reacting with water vapor in the atmosphere, it is placed under vacuum. Hiroo Iikuchi said that the new superconductor containing C60 exhibits the Meissner effect (the expulsion of magnetic flux) at an absolute temperature of 15 K (minus 258 degrees Celsius). A research team composed of scientists of Chinese descent at the State University of New York at Buffalo has recently discovered that buckyballs, when doped with iodine chloride impurities, can exhibit superconductivity at an absolute temperature of 60 degrees, or minus 213 degrees Celsius. Before this discovery by Gao Yihan, a professor in the Department of Physics at that university, Song Liwei, a postdoctoral research assistant, Zhong Duanling, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, and Fu Lide, a graduate student, the critical temperature of superconducting Bucky balls was approximately 30 absolute degrees (minus 243 degrees Celsius). Bucky balls doped with iodine chloride also possess air stability, which is highly advantageous for future practical applications. The research team states that the newly discovered superconducting Bucky balls retain their superconducting properties even after being exposed to air for 40 days, a characteristic not possessed by previously discovered superconducting Bucky balls. (2) New materials French and Russian scientists have developed a new material using buckyballs; it has a hardness at least on par with that of diamond, and is capable of leaving scratches on its surface. According to the British magazine New Scientist, Henri Szwach, a physicochemist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, France, and scientists from the Institute of High Pressure Physics in Moscow created this super-strong polymer material by crystallizing a carbon sphere composed of 60 carbon atoms under high pressure. Szwaach said that they originally intended to use carbon 60 to create diamonds, but unexpectedly ended up with another, even harder substance. They are using machines from the Russian Institute of High Pressure Physics. At the center of the machine are two tapered diamonds. They placed the carbon 60 material on the surface of one of the diamonds, then applied a high pressure of about 20 gigapascals (which is roughly equivalent to 10,000 atmospheres). At the same time, these two conical diamonds are rotated to generate a shear force. French scientists explain that when carbon sphere material is under a pressure of 12 gigapascals, it begins to transform into a new material, but this transformation is completed only when an even greater pressure is applied. (3) Wires Thomas Ebson of Princeton NEC Research Institute says that nanotubes have become the preferred material for \"the best fibers\". Others believe they could also become the best ultrafine wires. The diameter of a single nanotube is only one percent of the diameter of the thinnest circuits on high-tech computer chips. Richard Smalley of Rice University in Houston said, “We expect it to become an ideal conductor, with electrical conductivity that is likely to **exceed that of copper. ”He said that nanotubes could ultimately “be used in nanoscale electronic circuits”. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter – just a little over ten times the diameter of an atom of medium size. The diameter of a basic carbon nanotube is only 1.4 nanometers. However, apart from their extremely small size and very unusual potential uses, the composition of nanotubes is actually no different from that of ordinary graphite. A key factor determining the strength of enhanced fibers is the ratio of length to diameter. Eberson said that material engineers prefer a length-to-diameter ratio of at least 20∶1. However, even at the nanoscale lengths currently available, the length of a nanotube is thousands of times its diameter. Ebson estimates that this will make their strength 5 to 10 times higher than that of graphite. Smoly is very optimistic. He said, “Many of us believe that nothing can surpass this.” ” Scientists at the basic research laboratory affiliated with NEC used Buky tubes as molds to create lead wires on the nanometer scale, with a diameter equivalent to that of several atoms. The development of this currently thinnest wire in the world opens up new avenues for the future development of ultra-fine electronic circuits and high-strength fiber materials. Scientists at NEC vaporized metallic lead over a set of neatly arranged Buchner tubes, then heated it at a temperature higher than the melting point of lead for 30 minutes. Scientists have discovered that under these conditions, the port of the Buchi tube opens, creating a process similar to that of using a straw to drink from a beverage in everyday life, thereby drawing the melted lead into the lumen of the tube. The resulting wire diameters are as small as 1.3 nanometers, while the lengths range from 20 to 30 nanometers. Compared to the thinnest wires on existing silicon integrated circuit chips, the wires “cast” using bucky tubes as molds are only one percent as wide as those. Scientists admit that the yield of the nanometer-scale wires they produce is less than one percent, and they are still unable to explain why the openings in these Buchner tubes can open up and draw in lead. Furthermore, at this stage it is not possible to determine whether the composition of the wire inside the Buchi tube is pure lead or a lead compound. Since excessively thin wires cannot be attached to the test electrodes, their electrical conductivity cannot be determined. (4) Pharmaceuticals Universities such as Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo in Japan have successively discovered that the spherical carbon atom “C60” can inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells and promote cell differentiation, offering hope as a new drug for treating cancer. The Biomedical Engineering Research Center at Kyoto University discovered that by injecting spherical carbon atoms into the cancer cells of rats, active enzymes capable of destroying these cancer cells are generated under light exposure, thereby effectively suppressing the proliferation of cancer cells. The University of Tokyo and the National Institute of Health of Japan’s Ministry of Health also found in laboratory tests that compounds composed of spherical carbon atoms, when used together with other anticancer drugs, can enhance therapeutic effects and promote cell differentiation. American scientists have discovered that carbon 60 has the ability to protect brain cells, and it is hoped that it can be used to develop drugs for treating diseases such as stroke. According to the British Financial Times, carbon 60 is an allotrope of carbon composed of 60 carbon atoms, appearing in a spherical shape. A research team from the School of Medicine at the University of Washington in the United States modified it to make it water-soluble, and after injecting this aqueous solution into mice, it was found that the solution could absorb free radicals that cause functional decline in the body, and it could also prevent brain cells from breaking down due to lack of oxygen and glucose. Researchers explain that carbon 60 is a large inorganic molecule with intermediate pores, which allows it to attract certain harmful molecules within the body. Research on Buckyball-like non-carbon molecules: In collaboration with Nissan, the National Institute of Materials Science and Chemistry in Japan used computer simulations to conclude that it is possible to synthesize nitrogen 60 molecules similar to the buckyball structure (also known as carbon 60 molecules) using 60 nitrogen atoms. Computer simulation results show that C60 molecules and N60 molecules have similar structures, but lower stability. During the specific synthesis process, it may be necessary to freeze or pressurize nitrogen, and then irradiate it with a high-intensity laser ； The resulting molecular clusters may have high volatility, instantly returning to a gaseous state when heated and releasing a large amount of energy. The scientists involved in the research speculate that, taking advantage of these properties, nitrogen-60 molecules could become a **rocket fuel with potential for commercial use. Computer simulations also show that if nitrogen-60 molecules are used as rocket fuel, the power generated will be 10% higher than that of the liquid fuels currently used in rockets. Unraveling the mysteries of the universe: The study of buckyballs may provide answers to the mystery of how the universe was formed. American scientists discovered buckyballs in meteorites. This finding confirms that the spherical carbon molecules, which were first discovered and synthesized in the laboratory, also exist in nature; it represents the third allotropic form of carbon to be discovered after diamond and graphite. This meteorite, named “Allende,” fell in Mexico in 1969. In their research, scientists from the University of Hawaii in the United States and NASA first used acid to remove sulfur from meteorite fragment samples, then placed these residues in organic solvents, and finally isolated spherical carbon particles. They detailed the research process in the British journal Nature. Scientists had previously discovered spherical carbon in sediments around craters and other such locations. However, the spherical carbon discovered by scientists in the \"Allende\" meteorite contains not only large amounts of carbon 60 and carbon 70, but also carbon molecular structures with higher atomic numbers, ranging from carbon 100 to carbon 400. It is reported that this is the first time spherical carbon molecules with such a high atomic number have been discovered in nature. Scientists point out that spherical carbon is present in the Allende meteorite, which will help in studying the conditions of the primitive nebulae and dust particles in the solar system at the time of this meteorite’s formation. Furthermore, this new discovery implies that when studying the early formation history of the Earth, the role played by such special structured carbon molecules may need to be taken into consideration. Since these hollow, cage-like carbon molecules have a strong ability to adsorb gases, meteorites containing spherical carbon, when they fall to Earth, can not only supply the planet with carbon but may also have a significant impact on Earth’s atmosphere. Hope Cup During the 1998 FIFA World Cup, a German chemist had an idea to create a replica of the Zeus Cup at the molecular level. This miniature gold cup was ultimately generously given to the champion team, France. The micro “Hercules” cup is made of a single molecule and is only 3 nanometers tall, which is less than one billionth of the height of the actual “Hercules” cup, which is 36 centimeters tall. Symbolizing the highest honor in international football, the design of the Golden Trophy features two Heracles figures standing back to back with their arms raised, holding up a globe. Chemists at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany, including Hirsch and his students, discovered in their research that certain molecules with special shapes can serve as ideal materials for creating replicas of the Olympic cup on a microscopic scale. Hirsch and others used carbon 60 molecules known as \"buckyballs\" to simulate the Earth pattern on the \"Titanic\" trophy; these buckyballs have a hollow cage-like structure that resembles a miniature football. The base of the miniature “Hercules” golden cup is made from a cup-shaped molecule. Hirsch believes that this special structure is likely to find practical use in science as well. He explained that when light shines on the “Buckyball” molecules, single electrons are generated and enter the cup-shaped molecules that form the base. If it is possible to capture this single electron and introduce it into an electrical circuit, the molecular \"Hercules\" cup could be used to create new types of solar cells. Many problems: 1. Buckyballs are not absolutely stable. Recent research by scientists from the University of Surrey and the University of Warwick in the UK shows that at room temperature and in the presence of oxygen, carbon 60 loses some of its stability due to reactions between its molecules. According to materials released by the University of Warwick, scientists from the two universities discovered in their research that when carbon 60 is at room temperature, two carbon 60 molecules react with one oxygen atom to form new structural substances. Oxygen atoms act as a kind of “bridge,” bonding two C60 molecules together. The researchers analyzed a total of 13 different solid carbon 60 samples, and found that the newly formed structural material accounted for an average of about one percent in each sample. Although this proportion is not high, scientists point out that it cannot be ignored in the fields of carbon 60 applications. Researchers believe that this new discovery implies that future research on the use of carbon 60 at room temperature should take anti-oxidation measures into account. 2. Mass production is a long way off. To date, scientists have been able to produce only a few grams of primary nanotubes at a time. “But we need this material in pounds and tons,” which means new methods must be found. Although he didn’t know what the new method would entail, he believed that such a new method would definitely be found. It would also be astonishing if it could truly be produced in large quantities in factories. If you consider its numerous uses, including serving as a \"molecular wire\" between other molecules (for creating a new generation of small chemical sensors), as the tip of nanosensors capable of \"sensing\" the structure of individual atoms on object surfaces (for testing the quality of ultra-pure silicon chips), and as an ideal crystalline substrate. Chinese Achievements Our country’s researchers are not behind in the bocce competition. They successfully explored the electronic structure of the third form of carbon, the C60 molecule, using high-precision ab initio empirical quantum chemistry methods. The electrostatic potential of the C60 molecule was calculated systematically for the first time, providing a theoretical basis for studying the interaction mechanisms between C60 and charged ions as well as polar molecules, as well as the superconducting properties of doped compounds. This achievement marks China’s large-scale computational quantum chemistry research as reaching the international forefront. It systematically determined for the first time the potential distribution inside and outside the carbon 60 sphere: the interior of the sphere is a region of positive potential, while the exterior has a region of negative potential, with the electrostatic potential distribution exhibiting regular symmetry. This result is of great guiding value for determining the positions where atoms and ions enter the sphere, as well as the optimal ways in which charged ions, polar molecules, and carbon 60 can combine, and it also lays a solid foundation for further exploring the application potential of carbon 60. The researchers used internationally advanced high-tech large-scale ab initio calculation programs to determine the electrostatic potential of the C60 molecule. Xu Zhifu, a Chinese scholar in the United States, synthesized the two largest molecules composed solely of hydrocarbon elements to date in a laboratory setting, under the guidance of his American supervisor Jeffrey Moore while pursuing his doctorate at the University of Michigan. One of these molecules consists of 1398 carbon atoms and 1278 hydrogen atoms; its three-dimensional structure is pancake-shaped with a diameter of 12.5 nanometers ； Another molecule is composed of 1,134 carbon atoms and 1,146 hydrogen atoms; it has a spherical shape, with enough space inside to accommodate 1,000 carbon atoms, and its diameter is 5.5 nanometers. Muller wrote in the American weekly magazine Chemical & Engineering News that he believes molecules from this carbon 60-related family will ultimately find applications in areas such as chemical catalysis, selective molecular bonding, electron transfer, energy conversion, and sensing. In recent years, Chinese scientists have also made significant progress in the preparation and separation technologies of carbon 60. The Hefei **Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory has achieved a series of significant results. The spectral experiment station at the Hefei **Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory**, designed and built by the University of Science and Technology of China, has achieved encouraging results in the study of the vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectrum of carbon 60. Research on carbon 60 is another hot topic internationally following \"superthermal conductivity.\" The interim results achieved by this experimental station are groundbreaking both at home and abroad. The research team on carbon 60, composed of institutions such as Fudan University and the Shanghai Institute of Nuclear Physics, designed and built this apparatus for carbon 60 production on its own; the purity of the carbon 60 produced remains stable at around 15%, with a maximum level of 18%, and the daily production capacity is 30 to 35 grams. They made significant improvements to the separation method; using the new process, carbon 60 with a purity of over 99.5% can be obtained. The water-soluble C60 encapsulated structure they developed has a higher solubility than similar foreign products, and its production cost is low. This post was last edited by QXZ-1966 on 2009-2-9 20:26.]