Buckminsterfullerene (C60)
Fullereno C60
- Date
- 1985 · confidence high
- Place
- Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States
- Credited to
- Harold Kroto, Richard Smalley and Robert Curl; Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996
- People
- 👤 Harold Kroto1939–2016👤 Richard Smalley1943–2005👤 Robert F. Curl1933–2022
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A spherical molecule of 60 carbon atoms shaped like a football, the third form of carbon after diamond and graphite. It launched carbon nanoscience.
Merged with "Fullereno C60 (buckminsterfullereno)" (duplicate, 23-09-2026).
What it led to
- Carbon nanotubes and graphene
- Nanotechnology as a field of research
- Materials for organic solar cells and drugs
- carbon nanotubes
- nanotechnology
- fullerenes in organic photovoltaics and medicine
Built on
- Mass spectrometer1912–1919
- The laser (and maser)1960
- mass spectrometry
- carbon chemistry
- cluster mass spectrometry
- interstellar carbon chemistry
Made possible
- Carbon nanotube1991
- Graphene2004
- nanomedicine
- mass arc-discharge production (Kratschmer-Huffman, 1990)
- acceptors in organic solar cells