Fullerene Polymers and Fullerene Polymer Composites (Springer Series in Materials Science 38), P. C. Eklund and A. M. Rao, Eds.; Springer Verlag: Berlin, 2000, ISBN: 3‐540‐64894‐1.
The volume consists of eleven chapters and deals with three main directions: fullerene polymers formed by bonds between the cages, additions of the cages to the backbone of conventional polymer, and composite materials formed from C60 and conventional polymers. The book starts with two overviews. One surveys the fundamental properties of fullerenes and comes from M. S. Dresselhaus and G. Dresselhaus. The other is written by P. A. Lane and Z. V. Vardeny and reviews properties of conducting polymers and fullerene‐polymer composites.
There is a block of three theoretical chapters in the book. G. B. Adams and J. B. Page give a summary of first‐principles quantum molecular dynamics simulations of fullerene polymerizations. Covalent bonding between fullerenes is further analyzed in a chapter by M. Menon and K. R. Subbaswamy. The third theoretical contribution is written by G. E. Scuseria et al. and compares computations with experiments for polymerized fullerite structures.
The remaining chapters review various experimental and application aspects. The chapter by A. M. Rao and P. C. Eklund deals with optical studies of polymerized C60 solids. Polymerization of charged fullerene cages is surveyed in the contribution from H. Kuzmany and J. Winter. The third item of this block is from K. Harigaya and discusses electronic properties and excitations in fullerene polymers.
Photophysics and photovoltaic devices based on fullerene composites are described by N. S. Sariciftci. Superconductivity of fullerene composites doped with alkali metals is reported by A. A. Zakhidov et al. The last chapter is written by M. S. Meier and surveys synthesis of fullerene‐based polymers in solution.
The well informative and representative volume is organized on 394 pages and offers a truly up‐to‐date and comprehensive account of the research field and its applications.
Reviewed by Z. Slanina