Fullerene-like boron clusters have remained, until now, in the realm of theoretical studies. Now, Lai-Sheng Wang and colleagues report experimental evidence of a fullerene-like molecule for the B40 anion and for neutral B40. Laser-vaporization techniques are used to form the clusters that are subsequently separated with a mass spectrometer and characterized using photoelectron spectroscopy. Together with the fullerene-like cluster of B40−, a quasi-planar isomer is observed, which is slightly more stable than the fullerene-like cluster. However, the fullerene-like cluster of neutral B40 is much more stable than its corresponding quasi-planar structure. Instead of resembling the football-like structure of carbon-based fullerenes, the all-boron cages have hexagonal holes at the top (pictured) and bottom, and four heptagonal holes along the sides. Chemical bonding analyses of the neutral B40 suggest all valence electrons are delocalized σ or π bonds. Preliminary calculations indicate that the fullerene-like boron cages could be used for hydrogen adsorption and release, or can be doped with a metal atom. Wang and colleagues have named the all-boron fullerenes 'borospherenes'.
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Stoddart, A. Boron clusters. Nature Mater 13, 843 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4074
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4074
