STRUCTURES AND STABILITIES OF CARBON FULLERENES

The structures and stabilities of carbon fullerenes C n ( n =20–94) are studied with tight-binding molecular dynamics in combination with a new scheme for generating energetically favorable fullerene networks. Magic numbers for fullerene formation energy are observed at n =60, 70 and 84. The experimental observation of the more abundant fullerenes is related to the fragmentation stabilities and chemical reactivities of the fullerenes obtained from our calculations.