Electronic properties of giant fullerenes and complex graphitic nanostructures with novel morphologies

Using a Hückel approach we study the electronic properties of large graphitic nanostructures: giant quasi-spherical fullerenes, chiral and non-chiral icosahedral giant fullerenes, holey balls, finite and toroidal carbon nanotubes. We found this model describes accurately the electronic characteristics of novel sp² carbon systems, requiring less computational effort when compared to multi-band tight-binding methods. We calculate the density of states (DOS) and the electronic charge distribution of these structures. Our calculations could lead to the development of novel electronic and field emission devices using complex sp²-like carbon architectures.