Research Planning Grant: High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Nanoanalysis of Carbon Clusters

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The goal of this work is to conduct preliminary structural analysis on fullerenes, using a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) facility. In essence, this Research Planning Grant is designed to develop a collaboration between the Principal Investigator who installed the HRTEM facility and members of another group at the same institute who discovered methods for bulk production of fullerenes and the subsequent crystal growth. Graduate students from two groups are trained in the use of the HRTEM technique. The HRTEM facility is uniquely suitable for structural analysis in the 10 to 100-oA range for a variety of structures and topographies such as higher fullerenes, tubular and intercalated geometries, and for examination of novel compounds having metal atoms or ions in between carbon frame or encased within carbon spheres. The results of preliminary studies will be used to prepare a full proposal for NSF. Fullerence chemistry has created a frontier avenue for the synthesis and fabrication of new materials with unusual optical and magneto-optical properties. The characterization of fullerenes and associated compounds is uniquely served by the use of the nanoanalytical TEM facility. The training of graduate students on this facility, and the preliminary results obtained as the consequence of this research planning proposal will contribute to the better understanding of the fullerene field and to the development of women scientists in the frontier areas of chemistry.