Fullerenes are a family of carbon molecules that take the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, or tube. They are also sometimes referred to as “buckyballs”, after Buckminster Fuller, the architect who popularized the geodesic dome. Fullerenes were first discovered in 1985 by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley, who were awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their discovery.
Some of the emerging trends in Fullerene include the use of Fullerene for gas storage and separation, the use of Fullerene for lithium ion batteries, and the use of Fullerene for drug delivery.