A REVIEW ON FULLERENE EARTH

A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon in the form of a hollow sphere or in many other shapes. Spherical fullerenes are also referred to as Buckminster fullerenes or buckyballs. Cylindrical fullerenes are also called as buckey tubes. Fullerenes composed of less than 300 carbon atoms, or endohedral fullerenes, are commonly known as “buckyballs” and include the most common fullerene, buckminsterfullerene, C60. Giant fullerenes, or fullerenes with more than 300 carbon atoms, include single-shelled or multi-shelled carbon structures, onions, and nanotubes. The first buckminster-fullerene C60 was actually discovered in 1985. It seems to be that the history of fullerenes research is very short. However it now has become clear that fullerenes exist much longer than mankind. They have been found in interstellar dust and meteor rocks and seem to be present everywhere in the universe. So one might be astonished that their discovery took that long. But since then fullerene research skyrocketed in a way that may only be compared with the field of high temperature superconductivity