Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
fullerene

fullerene

1 9.9
A hollow ball or tube made of many carbon atoms
  • noun
  • /ˈfʊlərin/
  • Specialized
: fullereno
  • Considering the fact that diamond and graphite, the other two organized forms of pure carbon, were known in antiquity, the fullerenes are rather surprising latecomers.
  • fullerene molecules
  • fullerene cage
  • carbon-based fullerenes

And so we, you know, we use the Fullerene case as a as a control.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • One group is examining the chemical reactions of fullerenes.

    Academic text (1996)

  • There are real people who experiment with buckminster fullerenes or explore the surface of matter with atomic force microscopes.

    Academic text (2007)

  • But in the process, we did discover the fullerenes.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Carbon nanotubes are part of the fullerene diversity.

    Blog text (25)

  • Most recently, a variety of carbon-based fullerenes have also been assembled into materials with much potential interest.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Carbon-60 and other fullerenes are the exceptions.

    Academic text (2006)

  • A recent example is waste carbon or plastic scraps being used in nanotechnology for the construction of fullerene nanotubes.

    Academic text (2012)

  • The more generic name "fullerene" indicates the large class of related ball-like and tubular carbon structures discovered by chemists in many countries since 1985.

    Academic text (1996)

  • Scientists are excited about the potential uses of fullerene compounds in drug delivery systems.

  • The structure of a fullerene resembles a hollow basketball made entirely of carbon atoms.

Surface Forms

fullerene singular
fullerenes plural

Morphology

fullerene = Fuller (opaque) = fuller + ene

Formed from the proper name 'Fuller' plus the chemical suffix '-ene'; the technical meaning (a class of carbon molecules) is not derivable from the base for an average learner.

Etymology

Fullerene comes from the name Buckminster Fuller and the ending -ene, because the molecule looks like his round 'dome' or a 'soccer ball'. So a fullerene is a hollow 'cage' of carbon atoms, which explains its round, dome-like shape.