A review on all boron fullerene (B40): A promising material for sensing and device applications

Abstract

Molecules are an engaging option to develop nano-scale electronic devices. The field of molecular electronics appertains to putting together molecules as building blocks for manufacturing molecular electronic components and is referred to as mole-electronics. The field of mole electronics has faced an uprising change after the discovery of carbon fullerene. Later on, boron was found to be a newer fullerene as it is the lightest neighboring atom of carbon in the periodic table. Among the boron fullerenes, B40 was found to be the most stable one. B40 has an unusual shape, which makes them different as they have the liability to interact with each other whereas this reactivity property makes borospherene good for connecting in chains. It has a unique property that the B40 cage has both acidic and basic sites. Its conductive properties can be enhanced effectively by doping different elements from the periodic table, which results in a reduced energy gap. It was found that contrasting B40 with transition metals leads to the storage of molecules inside its cage. By varying energy gaps it depicts nonlinear optical properties. It exhibits superior current characteristics when anchored borospherene devices are made, as these devices are exceptionally good candidates for low voltage applications. The properties of B40 can be altered by the endohedral and exohedral placement of atoms. We speculate that due to its reactivity it can be used as a molecular wire, as a battery material due to its electron deficiency and lightweight, or even can be used as a nano-catalyst thus making it an exceptionally good choice.