Thermal treatment of water-soluble particles formed by compounds composed of carbon nanobelts and C(60) molecules

It was previously shown that spherical particles are self-assembled by compounds composed of C(60)-(6,6)CNB-C(60), where CNB stands for “carbon nanobelt”, by mixing two individual solutions of C(60) and (6,6)CNB molecules dissolved in 1,2-dichlorobenzene at room temperature. The particles are monodisperse in water thanks to their high absolute value of the zeta potential in water. In this report, we investigate the effect of thermal treatment of the particles on some changes in the physical properties and structures. We find that the particles become electrically conductive after thermal treatment at 600 °C for 1 h. We suppose that the change in the electrical characteristics might have been caused by the structural change of (6,6)CNBs into opened-up ribbons composed of fused benzene rings, which construct networks supported by C(60) molecules in the particles, judging by the change in the absorption and mass spectra of the particles after thermal treatment and analysis of a possible change in the structure of C(60)-(6,6)CNB-C(60) based on quantum chemical calculations employing the PM6 method, with which it is known that nanostructures such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and (6,6)CNBs can be correctly estimated.