US Patent 9777132 Applications for inorganic fullerene-like particles

A nanostructure that includes a multi-layered fullerene-like nano-structure composed of a plurality of layers each having a metal chalcogenide composition that has a molecular formula of MX2, in which M is a metallic element selected from the group consisting of titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), molybdenum (Mo), technetium (Tc), ruthenium (Ru), rhodium (Rh), palladium (Pd), silver (Ag), cadmium (Cd), hafnium (Hf), tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W), rhenium (Re), osmium (Os), iridium (Ir), platinum (Pt), gold (Au), mercury (Hg) and combinations thereof, and X is a chalcogen element selected from the group consisting of sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), oxygen (O) and combinations thereof. An outer layer of the multi-layered fullerene-like structure includes at least one sectioned portion that extends along a direction away from the curvature of the multi-layered fullerene-like nano-structure.