Observation of condensed structure of C60 assembled from solution Original Research Article

Microscopic needle-like structures with submicron sizes were observed in the films prepared by electrolysis. Macroscopic needle-like structures with few millimeters length were also assembled by an extraction from nonelectrolysis supersaturated toluene solution. The anisotropic activation energy for two kinds of growing surfaces was investigated from the observation of their characteristic structure. Preparation conditions with thermal-equilibrium were thought to be effective to obtain a very long and/or fine assembled structure of C60. Conclusively a huge needle-like C60 was obtained by a very slow extraction. In the sample, ultrafine fibers with a diameter of about 50 nm were observed.