화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.106, No.29, 7135-7138, 2002
Continuously growing spiral carbon nanoparticles as the intermediates in the formation of fullerenes and nanoonions
We report the occurrence of quasispherical Archimedean spiral carbon nanoparticles and their transformation into onion-like nested multishell fullerenes. Irradiation of electron beam onto nanosized carbon particles forms spiral nanoparticles prior to transformation into onions. In situ microscopic observation reveals that the spiral-onion conversion is reversible and progresses outward from the center of a particle. A scheme is presented whereby thermodynamically most stable onion configuration is reached through the reversible transformation with the spiral intermediate playing the role of shell-adjuster. The scheme encompasses the growth mechanism of single- as well as multishell fullerene formation.