RUI: Fullertubes and Metallofullertubes: New Molecular Architectures and Seminal Studies

In this project for Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI), funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Steven Stevenson of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Purdue University-Fort Wayne is performing research that is isolating unusual molecules of tubular carbons with single layer endcaps. These molecules are of significant current interest, due to their potential application in electronics, engineering, catalysis, and medicine. The research includes elements of analytical, organic, physical, and materials chemistry. As such, the project is well suited for educating a diverse array of early career scientists, including those who are members of underrepresented groups in the field of chemistry. Significant participation of undergraduate students as well as high school students is planned for this research project. Tubular-shaped carbon allotropes consist of a single layer of rolled graphene (i.e., single walled nanotube moiety) chemically bonded to a single layer of carbon atoms arranged as hemispherical fullerene endcaps. Depending on the chirality of the tubular belt and the arrangement of hexagonal/pentagonal fullerene endcaps, these all-carbon fullertube structures can either be metallic or non-metallic. In this research, the yields of these fullertubes in soot obtained from different modes of synthesis (i.e., electric-arc versus flame) will be studied. The existence of three different families of new fullertubes will also be studied. In addition, encapsulation of transition metal IIIB and 4f-block metal atoms into these fullertubes will be investigated. The results emanating from these fundamental studies on fullertube structures will like be of interest and informative to those engaged broadly in the study of structure/function relationships in well-defined, graphene-derived systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.