Monday, July 14, 2014

First boron buckyballs roll out of the lab - physics-math - 14 July 2014 - New Scientist

First boron buckyballs roll out of the lab - physics-math - 14 July 2014 - New Scientist: ...made a cage-like molecule with 40 boron atoms by vaporising a chunk of boron with a laser then freezing it with helium, creating boron clusters. The team analysed the energy spectra of these clusters... The matching configuration revealed they had created the boron ball.

Unlike carbon buckyballs, in which the faces are made of hexagons and pentagons, the boron buckyball is made from triangles, hexagons and heptagons. As a result, it is less spherical but still an enclosed structure. Wang has dubbed the molecule "borospherene".

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