Negative curvature in inorganic fullerene-like structure

Abstract

Structures with negative curvature were predicted and experimentally observed in carbon nanoparticles belonging to an expanded class of fullerenes (named Schwartzites). to obtain negative curvature in such structures, it is necessary to dispose heptagons or octagons in the fullerene network which consists of hexagons and pentagons. This phenomenon allows one to construct complicated structures, of which only a few of were experimentally realized.

In the present work, structures with negative curvature are shown to exist also in the recently discovered inorganic fullerene-like (IF) materials. A number of MoS₂ nanoparticles with complicated topologies having negative curvature, are described.