AN ELASTIC CONTINUUM MODEL FOR FULLERENE ENERGETICS

Abstract

By analogy with the elastic theory of solid shells1 and fluid membranes,2 it has been suggested that fullerenes, at least large ones, might somehow resemble the classic elastic continuum, as indicated by Schnur.3 Some related works dealt with nanotubes do show positive evidence for this suggestion.4 Here we propose an elastic continuum model appropriate to graphite-like networks. Applying it to various shapes of fullerenes, such as spheres, tubes, tori, and minimal surfaces, we found good agreement between this model and previous numerical results given by approaches of ab initio or empirical potential. Furthermore, this model enables one to understand the puzzling phenomena such as why Schwarzite P216 and Schwarzite D216 have nearly identical bending energies while their geometric forms are very different (see Fig. 1). The prospect of this model is also discussed.