A possible route to macroscopic formation of endohedral fullerenes Article uri icon

abstract

  • A possible mechanism to encapsulate atoms in the internal cavities of C60 and higher fullerenes is proposed. It involves the production of C60 molecules with two carbon isotopes AC and BC (A,B = 12, 13, 14). The molecules AC59BC1 and AC58BC2 are separated from the total production and collected in a chamber under partial pressure of the element to be inserted. The proposed mechanism is to excite selectively the minority isotopes by laser irradiation in such a way that the bonds formed by the excited atoms are stretched to open a gate, allowing the foreign atoms to get into the distorted cages. The calculation of the electronic structure and the energy needed to deform C60 supports this insertion mechanism. © 1995.

publication date

  • 1995-01-01