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The first giant fullerene C240 built originally just for fun with Ken McKay Nature 1988

C540 with Ken McKay

The larger they get the more obviously icosahedral they become

In the electron microscope we see the contour

Left: Simulation Right: observation Electron microscopy yields cross-sections and we explained previously not-understood structures of certain common carbon shell particles

Computer simulation of an electron microscope image with Ken McKay and David Wales 1988

All the curvature is localised around the red pentagon

The surface is almost flat between the pentagons

Fuller has adjusted the strut lengths around the pentagons distorting the hexagons to produce an overall spheroidal structure

In the electron microscope we only see the shell contours

This led to the first explanation of the structures of the non-spheroidal structure of onion-like carbon particles

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Giant Fullerenes ©

HK Graphics Fullerenes 240 HK Graphics Fullerenes

The Giant Fullerenes