Single Covalent Bonding Structure in Fullerenes, Carbon Nanotubes and Closed Nanotubes

Abstract

The present paper deals with carbon in highly organized solids like graphene and its three-dimensional derivatives: fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and capped carbon nanotubes. It proposes an alternative to the typical bonding pattern exposed in literature. This novel bonding pattern involves alternating positively and negatively charged carbon atoms around hexagonal rings, then a few uncharged and partially bonded atoms close to the pentagon rings. The article focuses on fullerenes inscribed into a regular icosahedron, then addressing the most common fullerenes like C60. Carbon atoms are found to have predominantly three single bonds and less often two separated single bonds. The same pattern explains equally well carbon nanotubes and closed-tip nanotubes, of which C70 is a special case.