title: Observation of an all-boron fullerene.
abstract: After the discovery of fullerene-C60, it took almost two decades for the possibility of boron-based fullerene structures to be considered. So far, there has been no experimental evidence for these nanostructures, in spite of the progress made in theoretical investigations of their structure and bonding. Here we report the observation, by photoelectron spectroscopy, of an all-boron fullerene-like cage cluster at B40(-) with an extremely low electron-binding energy. Theoretical calculations show that this arises from a cage structure with a large energy gap, but that a quasi-planar isomer of B40(-) with two adjacent hexagonal holes is slightly more stable than the fullerene structure. In contrast, for neutral B40 the fullerene-like cage is calculated to be the most stable structure. The surface of the all-boron fullerene, bonded uniformly via delocalized σ and π bonds, is not perfectly smooth and exhibits unusual heptagonal faces, in contrast to C60 fullerene.
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Hua-Jin
authors: HJ
authors: Zhai
authors: Department of Chemistry & Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors: Ya-Fan
authors: YF
authors: Zhao
authors: Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors: Wei-Li
authors: WL
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Qiang
authors: Q
authors: Chen
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Hui
authors: H
authors: Bai
authors: Department of Chemistry & Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors: Han-Shi
authors: HS
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors: Zachary A
authors: ZA
authors: Piazza
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Wen-Juan
authors: WJ
authors: Tian
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Hai-Gang
authors: HG
authors: Lu
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Yan-Bo
authors: YB
authors: Wu
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Yue-Wen
authors: 0000000201625091
authors: YW
authors: Mu
authors: Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors: Guang-Feng
authors: GF
authors: Wei
authors: Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors: Zhi-Pan
authors: ZP
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Chemistry & Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
authors: Jun
authors: 0000000284563980
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors: Si-Dian
authors: SD
authors: Li
authors: Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors: Lai-Sheng
authors: LS
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D001895:Boron / Q000737:chemistry*; D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D011789:Quantum Theory
chemical_list: D037741:Fullerenes; D001895:Boron; C069837:fullerene C60