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Abstract

A method is provided for forming a fullerene layer on a substrate by chemically treating a surface of the substrate to provide a bond-forming species at the surface effective to covalently bond with fullerenes in solution and contacting the treated substrate surface with a solution of fullerenes to form a fullerene layer covalently bonded to the treated substrate surface. Alternately or in addition, a fullerene layer is formed on a substrate by chemically modifying fullerenes to provide a bond-forming species thereon, chemically treating a surface of the substrate to provide a bond-forming species effective to covalently bond with the bond-forming species of the fullerenes in solution, and contacting a solution of treated fullerenes with the treated substrate surface to form a fullerene layer covalently bonded to the treated substrate surface. A three dimensional multilayer fullerene structure can be formed on the substrate surface by chemically modifying an initial fullerene layer formed thereon in the manner described above to provide chemical bridging species (e.g. piperazine) covalently bonded thereto and effective to covalently bond with fullerenes in solution. The modified fullerene film then is contacted with a solution of modified or unmodified fullerenes to form a second fullerene layer covalently bonded to the initial fullerene layer by the chemical bridging species. The method can be repeated to build up additional fullerene layers on the substrate surface.

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