Determination of C60/C70 ratios in fullerene mixtures and film characterization by scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

Fullerene powder mixtures with different C60/C70 ratios have been analyzed by a variety of techniques, and results have been compared. The fullerence mixtures have been characterized as solutions in n-hexane by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV-VIS spectroscopy. Thin films of fullerenes on Au(111) have been prepared from the mixtures by sublimation. The sublimation process has been studied by simultaneous thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. Thin fullerene films on Au(111) have been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The STM images show primarily two types of ballshaped molecules arranged in a lattice with hexagonal symmetry (fcc(111) face, nearest neighbour distance: 1 nm). The two species differ in diameter. STM images of films made of mixtures of different C60/C70 ratios show that C70 molecules display a larger apparent diameter (0.8 nm) and corrugation than C60 molecules (0.7 nm). The C60/C70 ratios obtained by counting the corresponding molecular species in the STM images of the thin films are compared to the C60/C70 ratios determined by HPLC on hexane solutions of the mixtures. The observed differences might be explained by different rates of sublimation for the two species. The STM images reveal film defects (vacancies and boundaries) and dynamic processes (displacement of C70 molecules and vacancies). In films prepared to have a C60 coverage of less than one monolayer, stable structural units of the C60(111) surface consisting of three or seven C60 molecules are revealed by STM. Occasionally, substructure within individual fullerene molecules is observed.