Solvent atmosphere controlled self-assembly of unmodified C60： A facile approach for constructing various architectures

A facile approach for constructing diverse architectures of unmodified C₆₀ was developed via simple evaporation of pure C₆₀ solution in CS₂ under various poor solvent atmospheres. Diverse architectures such as belts, sheets, and starfishes were successfully constructed under different experimental conditions. C₆₀ belts obtained under EtOH atmosphere were confirmed to be a face-centered cubic (fcc) structure. The solvent atmospheres not only slowed down the evaporation speed, but also could reorganize the self-assembly of C₆₀ by partially re-dissolving the initially formed architectures. This concept represents a novel method for preparation of nanostructures of C₆₀ and could also be applied for controlling of the self-assembly of other functional organic molecules.