Frontier Carbon Corporation (FCC) of Tokyo, Japan, has established Frontier Carbon Corporation America (FCCA) to begin production of fullerene materials in the U.S. (aka "bucky balls," after Fuller). Fullerenes are large carbon molecules (that look like Bucky spheres) with unique properties that are particularly well suited to nanotechnology-based applications and have led to prototyping a large number of promising cutting-edge products. read
A wave of research and development activities all over the world has led to almost 2,000 application-oriented patents, spanning a very broad range spectrum of potential commercial applications, including: anticancer drug delivery systems using photodynamic therapy, HIV drugs, cosmetics to slow down the aging of human skin, longer-life lithium ion batteries, electrolyte membrane for fuel cells, superconductive materials, highly functional coatings, nano-composite polymers with desirable mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic, and/or optical properties, and ultra-fine crystalline artificial diamonds for drilling and industrial polishing.