Manipulating the Structural Transformation of Fullerene Microtubes to Fullerene Microhorns Having Microscopic Recognition Properties.

We report the production of fullerene microtubes (FMTs), having solid cores bisecting their tubular cavities, from solutions of mixtures of fullerene C60 and C70 and have demonstrated the structural transformation of FMTs to fullerene microhorns (FMHs) upon their exposure to alcohol/mesitylene mixtures at 25 °C. The conically shaped microhorns have hollow interiors and exhibit preferential recognition of silica particles over fullerene C70, polystyrene (PS) latex, PS hydroxylate, or PS carboxylate particles of similar dimensions due to strong electrostatic interactions between negatively charged FMHs and positively charged silica particles.