The structure of concentric-shell carbon onions as determined by high-resolution electron microscopy

Abstract
Concentric-shell carbon clusters are produced by electron irradiation of carbon soot in a transmission electron microscope and investigated with the highest resolution available to date. Simulations of the electron microscopy images based on different models are performed and compared with experimental images. It is found that the structure of the shells is compatible with the model of spherical fullerene molecules based on so-called Goldberg polyhedra. In general, the shells within one cluster are oriented differently.