Electroconductivity and pressure–temperature states of step shocked C60 fullerite

Abstract

A study of electrophysical and thermodynamic properties of C60 single crystals under step shock loading has been carried out. The increase and the following reduction in specific electroconductivity of C60 fullerite single crystals at step shock compression up to pressure 30 GPa have been measured. The equations of state for face centred cubic (fcc) C60 fullerite as well as for two-dimensional polymer C60 and for three-dimensional polymer C60 (3D-C60) were constructed. The pressure–temperature states of C60 fullerite were calculated at step shock compression up to pressure 30 GPa and temperature 550 K. The X-ray diffraction studies of shock-recovered samples reveal a mixture of fcc C60 and a X-ray amorphous component of fullerite C60. The start of the formation of the X-ray amorphous component occurs at a pressure P m≈ 19.8 GPa and a temperature T m≈ 520 K. At pressures exceeding P m and temperatures exceeding T m, the shock compressed fullerite consist of a two-phase mixture of fcc C60 fullerite and an X-ray amorphous component presumably consisting of the nucleators of polymer 3D-C60 fullerite. The decrease in electroconductivity of fullerite can be explained by the percolation effect caused by the change of pressure, size and number of polymeric phase nuclei.