Affinity of C-60 fullerenes with water

7th Biennial International Workshop on Fullerenes and Atomic Clusters, St Petersburg, RUSSIA, JUN 27-JUL 01, 2005International audienceIn this work, we have studied the affinity of pure C-60 fullerenes with water. Although C-60 have always been known as hydrophobic particles, we show that this characteristic does not remain when contact between C-60 and H2O is forced by mechanical stirring. Light scattering measurements and transmission electron microscopy observations revealed the presence of C-60 aggregates remaining stable in water after stirring, with a large nanometric size range. Water adsorption/desorption isotherms, confirmed the hydrophilic character of these nano-clusters, resulting form hydration of the initial hydrophobic C-60