The geometry of small fullerene cages: C20 to C70

The ground‐state structures of small fullerenes below C70 were determined by tight‐binding molecular‐dynamics total energy optimization. An efficient simulated annealing scheme was used to generate closed, hollow, spheroidal cage structures for all even‐numbered carbon clusters from C20 to C70. As a general trend, fullerenes prefer geometries which separate the pentagonal rings as far apart as possible. Except for C60, C70, and C50, most fullerenes have relatively low symmetries.

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