Formation process and electron-beam incident energy dependence of one-dimensional uneven peanut-shaped C60 polymer studied using in situ high-resolution infrared spectroscopy and density-functional calculations

Abstract

A 3 kV electron-beam irradiation of a C60 film gives rise to formation of one-dimensional (1D) uneven peanut-shaped C60 polymer with a cross-linked structure close to that of the P08 C120 stable isomer obtained from the general Stone–Wales rearrangement. In this study, we examined the evolution of infrared (IR) spectra of C60 films with respect to electron beam (EB) irradiation time, using in situ high-resolution IR spectroscopy and first-principles density-functional calculations, and found semi-quantitatively that the 1D uneven peanut-shaped C60 polymer is formed via intermediate polymers with a cross-linkage close to that of P04 and P06 C120 isomers obtained from GWS rearrangement. In addition, we examined the dependence of EB-induced C60 polymerization on an incident energy of EB in the range 3–7 kV. IR spectra obtained for 5 and 7 kV EB irradiation of C60films showed the same product as for 3 kV EB irradiation. However, when 5 and 7 kV EBs continued to irradiate C60 films for a long time after the polymer formation, the 1D peanut-shaped polymer did not proceed to become 1D polymers with a more coalesced linkage than that of the P08 one but was destroyed to become amorphous carbons.