Write a note on the structure of Fullerene. Mention any two of its applications .

Explanation

Richard E. Smalley Robert F. Curl jr and Sir Harold W. Kroto were the discoverers of this new form of pure carbon -like fullerene and they shared the 1996 Nobel prize in chemistry for their discovery. Third crystalline form of carbon was named as buckminster fullerene commonly called fullerenes . They were named so because their structure resembles the geodestic domes designed by the American scientist engineer and philosopher R . Buckminster Fuller . They are also nicknamed " Bucky ball " because like shape resembles a soccer ball. Fullerenes are large spheroidal `C_(n)` molecules with n = 60 or more . When an electric are is struck between graphite electronde in an inert atmosphere a large quantity of soot is formed together with a significant quantity of `C_(60)` and much smaller quantities of interrelated fullerenes such as `C_(70) . C_(76) . C_(78)` .
When graphite is vapourised using a high power laser fullerene `C_(60)` is obtained . The fullerene `C_(60)` bucky ball has the same form as a soccer ball . In this each carbon atom is `sp^(3)` hybridised . Each carbon atom has three neighbouring carbon atoms and forms two single and one double bound . `C_(60)` has 32 faces 20 of which are hexagons and 12 of which are pentagons . Each pentagon is surrounded by five hexagons and each hexagon is linked to three pentagons and each three hexagons. It has 60 vertices with a carbon atom at each vertex.