The Theory of Nothing

What the heck are Buckyballs?

What the heck are Buckyballs?
This is the whimsical name given to a molecular form of carbon known as a Buckminsterfullerene. The reason they're called Buckyballs is because an architect by the name of Richard Buckminster proposed the geodesic dome and his name was deemed appropriate for this unusual molecule.
The Buckminsterfullerene is a geodesic ball with sixty carbon atoms. It's a member of the fullerene family and a stable form of carbon. The other forms of fullerenes are nano-carbon tubes, megatubes, and other strange structures like onions and ball and chains, polymers and rings. Sounds like stuff that's used for BDSM. That's a joke!
The Buckminsterfullerene looks like a soccer ball (football in Britain) and is essentially a caged structure known as a truncated icosahedron, and it has 60 vertices and 32 faces. It's around 0.71 nanometers in size and it extremely stable even at high temperatures and pressures. This substance has a density of 1.65 grams per cubic centimeter. It's stable up to 600 degrees C (1,112 F) where it sublimates. It doesn't dissolve in water and is sparingly soluble in organic solvents. Carbon disulfide will dissolve 8 milligrams per milliliter.
Solid buckminsterfullerene molecules stick together but are as soft as graphite, but when compressed they form a very hard material that resembles a diamond that has strange optical properties, and if doped they form a semiconductor.
Buckminsterfullerene undergoes several chemical reactions, including adding halogen (chlorine, bromine and fluorine), oxygen and even metal (Platinum, Palladium, Nickel, Molybdenum), although in this case it forms a ligand (an organometallic complex).
There are no commercial uses for Buckyballs, but they have been reported to inhibit the HIV virus. No commercial semiconductor has been fashioned from them. The optical absorption of buckyballs is similar to the sunlight spectrum, suggesting that they could be used in photovoltaic cells.
The Buckminsterfullerene structure has an empty interior, and this has been shown to be a convenient place to store elements in a so-called molecular cage. Organometallic buckyballs could be used to store hydrogen at room temperature and normal pressure. So far 9% by weight of hydrogen storage is possible.
The most interesting fact about this form of carbon is that it occurs naturally in soot. Even more interesting is that it has been found in deep space in both the solid form and the gaseous form.
I wonder if buckyballs could be manufactured economically enough to be a viable commercial product. I do believe that they are interesting, especially from a chemists' perspective.
Thanks for reading.