Fullerene-like cage clusters from non-carbon elements

In this article, we review recent experimental and theoretical progresses on the search of the fullerene-like nanocages from non-carbon elements. The systems we discussed include medium-sized silicon clusters with endohedral fullerene structures, transition-metal doped silicon cage clusters, fullerene-like nanocages by group V elements (N, P, As, etc.), clusters with nesting doll structures (e.g., [As @ Ni(12)AS(20)](3-)), heterofullerene nanocages by III-V (BN, AIN, GaAs) and II-VI (ZnO, ZnS, ZnSe) compounds, and gold fullerene cages at Au-32 and Au-50, and so on. The stability of each type of non-carbon fullerene nanocages can be understood by some specific mechanism. These non-carbon fullerenes not only represent novel spheroid molecules with interesting structures and properties, but also are potential building blocks for nanostructured materials and devices.