Highly Crystalline Mesoporous C60 with Ordered Pores: A Class of Nanomaterials for Energy Applications

Unlocking the potential of fullerenes

30 April 2018

A breakthrough by an international team of scientists could lead to better energy storage technologies, according to a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. They have developed an innovative technique for fabricating ordered porous fullerene nanostructures.

Since their discovery, fullerenes — hollow carbon nanostructures — have attracted considerable interest because of their unique physical, chemical and electrical properties. When combined with organic and inorganic nanostructures, these properties can be enhanced, useful for application in new energy storage and conversion technologies. However, their lack of structural order and porosity limits their applications.

Now, the team of Australian and Indian scientists, including researchers from the University of South Australia, has developed an innovative technique for creating highly ordered fullerene crystals with pores less than five nanometres in size. The work could lead to the development of new supercapacitor and fuel cell technologies. 

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References

1. Angew. Chemie. 57, 569-573 (2018). doi: 10.1002/anie.201710888