Abstract

Fullerenes are promising candidates for intelligent, functional nanomaterials because oftheir unique mechanical, electronic and chemical properties. However, it is necessary toinvent some efficient but relatively simple methods of producing structures composed offullerenes for the development of nanomechatronic, nanoelectronic and biochemical devicesand sensors. In this paper, we show that various structures such as straight fibres,networks formed by fibres, wide sheets and helical structures, which are composed ofC60 molecules, arecreated by placing C60-crystals in critical ethane, carbon dioxide and xenon even thoughC60 moleculesdo not dissolve or disperse in the above fluids. It is supposed, judging by the intermolecular potentialsbetween C60 and C60,between C60 and ethane, and between ethane and ethane, thatC60-clusters grow with the assistance of solvent molecules, which are trapped betweenC60 molecules under critical conditions. This room-temperature self-assembly cluster growthprocess in critical fluids may open up a new methodology of forming structures builtup with fullerenes without the need for any ultra-fine processing technologies.

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