2008-04-20
Pitt research team sees exciting results from carbon moelcules (fullerenes) that conduct electricity at rates close to metal under certain conditions and configurations.
The team's research has been published in recent issue of Science Magazine, Atomlike, Hollow-Core-Bound Molecular Orbitals of C60 -- Feng et al. ...
... "The Pitt team found that the hollow, soccer-ball-shaped carbon molecules known as fullerenes can hold and transfer an electrical charge much like the most highly conductive atoms, explained project head Hrvoje Petek, a professor of physics and chemistry in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences and codirector of Pitt's Petersen Institute for NanoScience and Engineering.
The research was performed by Pitt post-doctoral associates Min Feng and Jin Zhao. When an electron was introduced into a fullerene molecule, the shape of the electron distribution mimicked that of a hydrogen atom or an atom from the alkali metal group, which includes lithium, sodium, and potassium. Moreover, when two fullerenes were placed next to each other on a copper surface, they showed the electron distribution of their chemical bond and appeared as H2, a hydrogen molecule. The assembly exhibited metal-like conductivity when the team extended it to a wire 1-molecule-wide. " ...
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Source: Green Technology |
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