Magnetic Alignments of Endohedral Metallofullerene Nanorods under Magnetic Fields

We prepared nanorods for various endohedral fullerenes as a well-arrayed nanostructure using a liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation method and magnetically aligned them under a magnetic field (10–12 T). The nanorod orientation was observed using a microscope or scanning electron microscopy. Nanorod fullerenes examined in this study include pristine endohedral metallofullerenes [M@C82 (M = La, Ce)] and adamantylidene (Ad) carbene derivatives of mono-metallofullerenes [M@C82Ad (M = La, Ce, Y)], a di-metallofullerene [La2@C80Ad], and a carbon cluster fullerene [Sc3C2@C80Ad], in addition to C60 and its derivative [C60Ad]. Results show that all were aligned and oriented with the axis of nanorods either perpendicularly or in parallel to the fields and demonstrate that this simple technique using magnetic fields is applicable for the fabrication of nanoscale materials.