Models of the stable dumbbell-like C120 cluster and crimped nanotubes constructed from C60 fullerenes

A new dumbbell-shaped structure of a C60 fullerene dimer which is substantially advantageous from an energy point of view as compared to dumbbell-shaped C120 clusters is proposed. The geometry and electronic structure of such a fullerene is calculated by the MM2, MNDO/PM3 and MNDO/AM1 methods. This dimer is shown to be approximately twice as stable as known ones. The results obtained are applied to modeling a quasi one-dimensional crimped nanotube structure. The crystal orbital method has shown the crimped nanotube electron spectrum to have a gap equal to 0.5 eV.