page_title: Fullerene
section_title: Buckyballs
hierarchical_section_title: Fullerene / Types / Buckyballs
caption_attribution_description: Bucky ball with isosurface of ground state electron density (calculated with DFT, the CPMD code). File was rendered using VMD.
context_page_description: A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon whose molecule consists of carbon atoms connected by single and double bonds so as to form a closed or partially closed mesh, with fused rings of five to seven atoms. The molecule may be a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, tube, or many other shapes and sizes. Graphene, which is a flat mesh of regular hexagonal rings, can be seen as an extreme member of the family.
  Fullerenes with a closed mesh topology are informally denoted by their empirical formula Cₙ, often written Cn, where n is the number of carbon atoms. However, for some values of n there may be more than one isomer.
  The family is named after buckminsterfullerene, the most famous member, which in turn is named after Buckminster Fuller. The closed fullerenes, especially C₆₀, are also informally called buckyballs for their resemblance to the standard ball of association football. Nested closed fullerenes have been named bucky onions. Cylindrical fullerenes are also called carbon nanotubes or buckytubes. The bulk solid form of pure or mixed fullerenes is called fullerite.
caption: C
  60 with isosurface of ground state electron density as calculated with DFT
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