Self-Assembled Fullerene Crystals as Excellent Aromatic Vapor Sensors.

Here we report the aromatic vapor sensing performance of bitter melon shaped nanoporous fullerene C crystals that are self-assembled at a liquid-liquid interface between isopropyl alcohol and C solution in dodecylbenzene at 25 °C. Average length and center diameter of the crystals were ca. 10 μm and ~2 μm, respectively. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern (pXRD) confirmed a face-centered cubic () structure with cell dimension ca. = 1.4272 nm, and = 2.907 nm³, which is similar to that of the pristine fullerene C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the presence of a nanoporous structure. Quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) results showed that the bitter melon shaped nanoporous C performs as an excellent sensing system, particularly for aromatic vapors, due to their easy diffusion through the porous architecture and strong interactions with the ²-carbon.