Water assisted growth of C₆₀ rods and tubes by liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation method.

C₆₀ nanorods with hexagonal cross sections are grown using a static liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation method in a system of C₆₀/m-dichlorobenzene solution and ethanol. Adding water to the ethanol phase leads instead to C₆₀ tubes where both length and diameter of the C₆₀ tubes can be controlled by the water content in the ethanol. Based on our observations we find that the diameter of the rods/tubes strongly depends on the nucleation step.