Scientific Reports 5

Dynamical behavior of Borospherene: A Nanobubble

Gerardo Martínez-Guajardo, José Luis Cabellos, Andres Díaz-Celaya, Sudip Pan, Rafael Islas, Pratim K. Chattaraj, Thomas Heine, Gabriel Merino.
The global minimum structure of borospherene (B40) is a cage, comprising two hexagonal and four heptagonal rings. Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics simulations show that continuous conversions in between six and seven membered rings take place. The activation energy barrier for such a transformation is found to be 14.3 kcal·mol−1. The completely delocalized σ- and π-frameworks, as well as the conservation of the bonding pattern during rearrangement, facilitate the dynamical behavior of B40. B40 is predicted to act as a support-free spherical two-dimensional liquid at moderate temperature. In other words, B40 could be called as a nanobubble.