Application Directed Synthesis of Multifunctional Fullerene Derivatives

This thesis presents work on the synthesis and characterisation of functionalised fullerene derivatives designed specifically for applications in energy storage, supramolecular assembly and lithographic patterning. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to fullerene, fullerene chemistry, the examples of structurally complex fullerene derivatives and their corresponding applications. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of highly soluble fullerene derivatives as charge carriers for redox flow batteries, achieving a remarkably high solubility of ~336 mM in oDCB, and exhibiting a wide potential window, 1.78 V, in an electrolyte consisting of oDCB/tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate. The synthesis of a series of tris-fullerene CTG molecules that can be used for developing supramolecular arrays is introduced in Chapter 3, in which a synthetic strategy of using tris-amino acid derivatised CTG as the starting material in a one-pot Prato reaction was proposed and investigated to yield the target molecule. In Chapter 4, a fullerene-platinum complex is explored as a resist material to develop the lithographic pattern, in which a sub-13 nm line width was achieved. The presence of Pt atoms enhances the secondary electron scattering and thus increased the energy deposition efficiency resulting in better lithographic patterning capability. Overall, this thesis acts as a guide to efficient and targeted fullerene derivative synthesis, providing insight and strategy into fullerene functionalisation which will help push forward the exploitation of fullerene as a nanosized building block to be utilised in applied, functional materials in the future.