Many physical systems involve a spherical support, such as droplets, vesicles, fullerenes and protein assemblies. Quadrupoles on different lattices are shown to orient in interesting ways that result various degrees of symmetry breaking.

We investigate high-order harmonic generation in a sequence of icosahedral fullerenes using the extension of the so-called three-step or Lewenstein model to the molecular case. The high harmonic spectra obtained at midinfrared wavelengths show modulations in the plateau region. These modulations are due to the coherent superposition of the contributions from the atomic centers in the molecule t...

The van der Waals coefficients between quasispherical nanostructures can be modeled accurately and analytically by those of classical solid spheres (for nanoclusters) or spherical shells (for fullerenes) of uniform valence electron density, with the true static dipole polarizability. Here, we derive analytically and confirm numerically from this model the size dependencies of the van der Waals ...

The effect of the curvature of the carbon lattice is discussed taking into account NMR data on various fluorinated carbons including C(60) fullerenes, single, double and multiwall carbon nanotubes. Graphite fluorides and highly fluorinated fullerenes are used as limit model compounds for planar and spherical geometries, respectively. The curvature results in a weakening of the C-F bonding coval...

Multishell fullerenes could be produced in the circumstellar envelopes of rich carbon giants as proposed by Ugarte (1995) and could be carriers of diffuse interstellar bands. Here, we investigate a potential way to detect these molecules through the far infrared bands related to their vibrational spectra. Based on a surface continuum spherical description of the carbon shells, we have derived a...

A direct correlation between π- and spherical aromaticity of the aromatic structures was established by showing that they shared a characteristic shielding cone, resulting from a specific orientation of the applied field. Herein, we revealed the presence of a related long-range shielding cone in spherical aromatic species that was demonstrated through C20, C32, C50, and C60 Hirsh aromatic fulle...

The morphology of Bucky onions is investigated by ab initio calculations using Yang’s new O(N) method. It is found that for large single shell fullerenes with Ih symmetry, the spherical morphology has the lower energy than that of polyhedrons. The formation energy per atom follows a simple scaling law. Including an estimate of inter-shell van de Waals interactions leads to the conclusion that s...

We investigate the localization of charged particles by the image potential of spherical shells, such as fullerene buckyballs. These spherical image states exist within surface potentials formed by the competition between the attractive image potential and the repulsive centripetal force arising from the angular motion. The image potential has a power law rather than a logarithmic behavior. Thi...

Fullerenes are nanoparticles composed of carbon atoms arranged in a spherical hollow cage-like structure. Numerous studies have evaluated the therapeutic potential of fullerene derivates against oxidative stress-associated conditions, including the prevention or treatment of arthritis. On the other hand, fullerenes are not only able to quench, but also to generate harmful reactive oxygen specie...