boron buckyballs – Researchers report the discovery of boron-based buckyballs—B80 “boron fullerite”—with a slightly larger structure than classic C60 buckyballs and properties that may make it a promising semiconductor. The work uses laser vaporization with a helium carrier gas
When a lab team manages to build a “buckyball” out of something other than carbon. it feels like a small miracle with big consequences. In a paper published in Chemical Science. Hyun Wook Choi and co-authors describe a boron version of the football-like spherical molecules—one that adds a whole new element to the story of fullerene-style structures.
In the classic buckyball. the molecule is a fullerene made of sixty carbon atoms (C60) arranged in a structure that resembles a sphere. Extending that arrangement beyond carbon has long been elusive—until now. The new work identifies a boron-based buckyball that increases the atom count to eighty. forming B80. also referred to as boron fullerite. The authors report that this boron fullerite has a slightly larger diameter than C60: 0.85 nm compared with 0.71 nm.
The paper doesn’t just describe a different set of atoms; it leans into why those atoms might matter. The authors claim boron fullerite may hold more practical applications than the carbon-based buckyball. Their reasoning centers on predicted electronic behavior: boron fullerite is expected to be a semiconductor with an 0.8 eV energy gap and better electron acceptance. If that prediction holds, it could translate into more interesting doping prospects than what researchers get from the carbon version.
Getting to the structure wasn’t done with a simple chemistry bench experiment. The team used laser vaporization with a helium carrier gas seeded with argon to increase cooling efficiency. Inside those boron clusters, they report that the relevant structures were discovered and characterized as described in the paper.
That’s where the tension in the story lives. The leap from a striking laboratory finding to any real-world, bulk production is rarely straightforward. The authors’ predicted properties may end up being incomplete. and there’s always the risk of surprises—what turns out to be useful in principle can reveal complications in practice. Even so, boron fullerite still looks like a meaningful shift. For years. carbon buckyballs have remained mostly a curiosity despite extensive research; boron buckyballs. if their predicted semiconductor traits hold up. could move the idea from fascination toward function.
There’s already a higher-level perspective available through a soft-paywalled piece in Chemical & Engineering News, framing the discovery beyond the technical details of the study.
boron buckyballs boron fullerite B80 buckminsterfullerene C60 Chemical Science semiconductors energy gap doping laser vaporization helium carrier gas argon seeding
So basically tiny space balls for computers now? Cool.
I read “helium carrier gas” and thought they were making this with party balloons lol. If it’s a semiconductor does that mean faster phones? Or is this just another lab thing that never gets used?
Wait, isn’t boron what they use in like… nuclear control rods? So are we accidentally gonna build the next iPhone out of reactor stuff? Also “0.8 eV energy gap” sounds made up, like I could just change it by turning a knob.
I don’t get why they keep saying “buckyballs” like everybody knows. C60 carbon ones are already kind of a curiosity? So this boron one is bigger diameter but somehow better at accepting electrons?? Next thing you know they’ll be selling boron fullerite as some kind of miracle chip material and it’ll still require lasers and helium and argon like… yeah okay.