HOUSTON, April 24 (UPI) -- U.S. physicists are predicting the existence and stability of another "buckyball," one consisting entirely of boron atoms.
The original buckyball -- a cage-shaped molecule of 60 carbon atoms -- was discovered at Rice University by Robert Curl, Harold Kroto and Richard Smalley in 1985.
The new Rice University research was conducted by professor Boris Yakobson, Nevill Gonzalez Szwacki and Arta Sadrzadeh.
The boron "buckyball" is structurally similar to the original C60 fullerene, but it has an additional atom in the center of each hexagon, which significantly increases stability.
"This is the first prediction of its possible existence," Yakobson said of the boron "buckyball." "This has not been observed or even conceived of before. We do hope it may lead to a significant breakthrough."
The "buckyball" was named for famed architect Buckminster Fuller, because it looked like conjoined geodesic domes -- a structure Fuller had invented.
The new research, which has been published online, is to appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters.
