Formation of general fullerenes by their projection on a honeycomb lattice

Abstract

We propose the use of a projection method based on a honeycomb lattice to enhance the geometrical understanding of general fullerenes. An arbitrary fullerene consisting of pentagonal and hexagonal arrangements of carbon atoms is completely specified by the distribution of twelve pentagonal defects on an otherwise hexagonal honeycomb lattice. Utilizing this projection method, we demonstrate the geometric specification of icosahedral hyperfullerenes and general chiral fullerene tubules suitably capped on each end.