Giant multilayer fullerene structures with symmetrically arranged defects

Multilayer fullerene cages, also called “onions,” were discovered a few years ago. Each layer making the onion presents an almost perfect spherical shape. On the other hand, it is known that individual giant fullerenes lose their spherical shape and develop flat faces. Here, possible giant fullerene structures with symmetrically arranged defects, which have been obtained numerically, are reported. These molecules are more stable, for a large enough number of carbon atoms, than defect-free fullerenes.