Rational synthesis of fullerenes, buckybowls, and single-walled carbon nanotubes by a surface-assisted approach

Abstract

The sp2 carbon-based structures with nanoscale dimension, such as fullerenes, nanographenes, nanoribbons, nanocones, and nanotubes, remain at the forefront of nanotechnology research. These unique structures appear to be the most promising building blocks for future nanotechnology applications and electronic devices. One of the main challenge in this field is to develop facile synthetic methods for production of these unique materials with fully controlled structure on the bulk scale. Here, we review studies on controlled surface-assisted synthesis of fullerenes, buckybowls, and single-walled carbon nanotubes that have been published to date. The relevance and prospects of on-surface synthesis strategies for construction of nonplanar sp2 carbon-based nanostructures are highlighted.