ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the structure, production methods, extraction methods, and purification methods for spherical fullerenes. It also discusses the properties of 2-D films produced using zero-dimensional (O-D) fullerenes. Spherical or O-D fullerene molecules are closed hollow cage-like spheroidal molecules made of a number of covalently bonded carbon atoms. Having a dimensionality on the order of 1 nm, spherical fullerenes demonstrated unique light scattering, in general, and Raman scattering, in particular, properties. Theoretical studies based on density functional theory calculations show that large fullerenes of icosahedral symmetry prefer faceted over spherical shapes. Different endo-fullerenes have been investigated theoretically and prepared experimentally. Incarceration of different elements in several types of fullerenes was investigated. The different elements investigated included nitrogen, hydrogen, noble gases, different metal nitrides, and different types of metallic, non-metallic, and even radioactive, atoms.
