Endohedral metallofullerenes and nano-peapods

In this review article, we deal with the structures and properties of novel hybrid nanocarbon materials, which are created by the incorporation of atoms and molecules in hollow spaces of fullerenes and carbon nanotubes (CNTs); these hybrid materials are called endohedral metallofullerenes (in the case of metal atom incorporated fullerenes) and nano-peapods, respectively. Synthesis procedures, structural characterizations by synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction, electronic structures, and magnetic properties of endohedral metallofullerenes are discussed. The structure and properties of nano-peapods by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and field effect transistor (FET) transport measurements together with their synthesis procedures are described. The utilization of the low-dimensional nanosized spaces of CNTs to produce novel low-dimensional nanocluster, nanowire and nano-tube materials is also discussed.