Fullerene Nano Materials (Symposium of IUMRS-ICA2008)

Abstract

This volume contains peer-reviewed invited and contributed papers that were presented in Symposium N ‘Fullerene Nano Materials’ at the IUMRS International Conference in Asia 2008 (IUMRS-ICA 2008), which was held on 9–13 December 2008, at Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya, Japan. Over twenty years have passed since the discovery of C60 in 1985. The discovery of superconductivity of C60 in 1991 suggested infinite possibilities for fullerenes. On the other hand, a new field of nanocarbon has been developed recently, based on novel functions of the low-dimensional fullerene nanomaterials that include fullerene nanowhiskers, fullerene nanotubes, fullerene nanosheets, chemically modified fullerenes, endohedral fullerenes, thin films of fullerenes and so forth. Electrical, electrochemical, optical, thermal, mechanical and various other properties of fullerene nanomaterials have been investigated and their novel and anomalous nature has been reported. Biological properties of fullerene nanomaterials also have been investigated both in medical applications and toxicity aspects.The recent research developments of fullerene nanomaterials cover a variety of categories owing to their functional diversity. This symposium aimed to review the progress in the state-of-the-art technology based on fullerenes and to offer the forum for active interdisciplinary discussions. 24 oral papers containing 8 invited papers and 22 poster papers were presented at the two-day symposium. Topics on the social acceptance of nanomaterials including fullerene were presented on the first day of the symposium. Biological impacts of nanomaterials and the importance of standardization of nanomaterials characterization were also shown. On the second day, the synthesis, properties, functions and applications of various fullerene nanomaterials were shown in both the oral and poster presentations. We are grateful to all invited speakers and many participants for valuable contributions and active discussions. This symposium was partly supported by the Coordination Program of Science and Technology Projects ‘‘Developing Nanotechnologies and Engaging the Public’’ conducted by the Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) and funded by Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology. Organizing committee of Symposium N (IUMRS-ICA 2008) Chair Kun'ichi Miyazawa (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan) Vice Chairs Daisuke Fujita (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan) Takatsugu Wakahara (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan) Tokushi Kizuka (Tsukuba University, Japan) Kiyoto Matsuishi (Tsukuba University, Japan) Yuichi Ochiai (Chiba University, Japan) Masaru Tachibana (Yokohama City University, Japan) Hironori Ogata (Hosei University, Japan) Tadahiko Mashino (Keio University, Japan) Ryotaro Kumashiro (Tohoku University, Japan) Hidetoshi Oikawa (Tohoku University, Japan)