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The route to fullerenoid oxides

Nature Materials volume 3, pages 269–273 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Tetrahedral oxides, like silicates and aluminates, have attracted great interest due to their potential for numerous applications in various fields ranging from catalysis, ion exchange and molecular sieves, to thermo- and photoluminescence. In spite of their tetrahedral character, no effort has been made to date for establishing structural relationships between these tetrahedral oxides with different forms of carbon, for example, fullerenes. Here, we report for the first time an oxide that exhibits a three-dimensional framework of AlO4 tetrahedra forming huge 'Al84' spheres, similar to those of the D2d isomer of the C84 fullerenes. These Al84 spheres, displayed in a face-centred-cubic lattice, are easily identified by high-resolution electron microscopy. We also show that this Sr33Bi24+δAl48O141+3δ/2 aluminate exhibits an onion-skin-like subnanostructure of its Bi/Sr/O species located inside the Al84 spheres. The role of the original pseudo-spheric anion [Bi16O52−n□n] —with n vacancies (□)—in the stabilization of such a structure is discussed. This structure seems to be promising for the generation of a large family of fullerene-type (fullerenoid) oxides with various properties.

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Figure 1: Ultramarines and C60 fullerene.
Figure 2: Al84 and C84 fullerene.
Figure 3
Figure 4: The onion-skin-like subnanostructure of the BiSrO array contained in the Al84 spheres of Sr33Bi24+δAl48O141+3δ/2.
Figure 5: Geometry of the different spheres.
Figure 6: HREM evidence of the structural specificities of the fullerenoid aluminate.
Figure 7: Pseudo-spheric anion located in the heart of the spheres.

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  1. Laboratoire CRISMAT, UMR 6508 CNRS ENSICAEN, 6 bd Maréchal Juin, CAEN, 14050, Cedex 4, France

    Maryvonne Hervieu, Benjamin Mellène, Richard Retoux, Sophie Boudin & Bernard Raveau

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  1. Maryvonne Hervieu
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  2. Benjamin Mellène
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Correspondence to Maryvonne Hervieu.

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Hervieu, M., Mellène, B., Retoux, R. et al. The route to fullerenoid oxides. Nature Mater 3, 269–273 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1089

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