DOI: 10.1051/jp1:1994129
J. Phys. I France 4 (1994) 169-174

Short Communication

Folding CuO ₂ planes into fullerene-like clusters

M.D. Núñez-Regueiro¹ and M. Núñez-Regueiro<sup>2

1</sup>  European Synchroton Radiation Facility, B.P. 220, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, France
²  Centre de Recherches sur les Très Basses Températures, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, B,P. 166, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 09, France

(Received 26 November 1993, accepted 21 December 1993)

Abstract
The wrapping of graphite planes into fullerenes induces, among other interesting properties, an increase of the superconducting temperature in their corresponding intercalation compounds that has been attributed to the cluster structure. This motivates the search for similar behaviour in other systems. Here we explore the clusters that may be obtained by the folding of CuO ₂ planes and study their magnetic and electronic properties. Natural murdochite mineral proves that, at least in an interconnected structure, the CuO ₂ layers fold into cages, while the BaCuO ₂ phase can be viewed as a first step towards their separation within a cationic matrix.

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