Snub boron nanostructures: Chiral fullerenes, nanotubes and planar sheet

We design a new class of electronically stable boron nanostructures, viz.: 60 n 2 boron fullerene family, boron nanotubes, and a planar boron sheet, which like the α-boron sheet, consists of triangular and hexagonal motifs and has symmetrically arranged hexagonal holes. The binding energy of the proposed new boron sheet is only 0.02 eV/atom lower than the α-boron sheet. The 60 n 2 boron fullerenes are chiral and the initial icosahedral symmetry of the fullerenes is lowered due to Jahn–Teller distortion. The smallest chiral B 60 fullerene is more stable by 1.5 eV than the exact boron analogue of C 60 fullerene.