Affinity of C60 fullerenes with water

In this work, we have studied the affinity of pure C-60 fullerenes with water. Although C-60 have always been known as hydrophobic particles, we show that this characteristic does not remain when contact between C-60 and H2O is forced by mechanical stirring. Light scattering measurements and transmission electron microscopy observations revealed the presence of C-60 aggregates remaining stable in water after stirring, with a large nanometric size range. Water adsorption/desorption isotherms, confirmed the hydrophilic character of these nano-clusters, resulting form hydration of the initial hydrophobic C-60.