Abstract
C60 fullerene crystals may serve as important catalysts for interstellar organic chemistry. To explore this possibility, the electronic structures of free-standing powders of C60 and (C59N)2 azafullerenes are characterized using X-ray microscopy with near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, closely coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This is supported with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements and associated core-level shift DFT calculations. We compare the oxygen 1s spectra from oxygen impurities in C60 and C59N, and calculate a range of possible oxidized and hydroxylated structures and associated formation barriers. These results allow us to propose a model for the oxygen present in these samples, notably the importance of water surface adsorption and possible ice formation. Water adsorption on C60 crystal surfaces may prove important for astrobiological studies of interstellar amino acid formation.
Highlights
C60 fullerene crystals may serve as important catalysts for interstellar organic chemistry
Midinfrared bands at 7.0, 8.5, 17.4 and 19.0 μm match those for neutral C603,4, which has been suggested as a candidate for templating simple nucleobases in interstellar environments[5]
We investigate the spectroscopic fingerprint of suspended clusters of C60 and (C59N)[2] using near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) combined with a range of density functional theory (DFT) modeling approaches
Summary
C60 fullerene crystals may serve as important catalysts for interstellar organic chemistry To explore this possibility, the electronic structures of free-standing powders of C60 and (C59N)[2] azafullerenes are characterized using X-ray microscopy with near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, closely coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Surface contamination can have a strong impact on NEXAFS spectra For this reason, for the NEXAFS analysis, the azafullerene and fullerene powders were sonically dispersed in ethanol, and a drop of each solution was deposited onto lacey carbon films supported on copper transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids. This allows us to study indirectly supported material located above holes in the lacey carbon film grid, avoiding the interaction of the measured sample region with the substrate
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