ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses fullerene as nanomaterial building blocks. Fullerenes are a recently discovered form of nanocrystalline carbon. They come in different geometrical shapes. Spherical, or generally speaking, balloon-like, shapes are usually referred to as fullerenes or buckyballs. In nanobuds, fullerene molecules are attached to the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes. The most famous form of fullerene molecules, however, is the [60] fullerene or C60 commonly known as buckyball. The molecule is made of 60 carbon atoms in a spherical shape that exactly resembles a soccer ball. The molecule was named Buckminsterfullerene after the famous architect Buckminster Fuller who first created the geodesic cage or dome design which the fullerene molecule resembles. By the year 1991 fullerenes were the subject matter of 90% of the most cited papers, and the subject is still being of current scientific interest.
