Structural evolution of low-pressure polymerised C 60 with polymerisation conditions

Abstract

We show in this paper that characteristic features in the Raman spectra, especially the frequency of the pentagonal pinch mode, can give information about the polymeric structure of pressure polymerised C 60. High-pressure treatment at 1 GPa below 510 K for 3 h results in the formation of a low fraction of dimers only, while treatment at the same pressure and time above 540 K affords a fully polymerised material. In the latter case, different relative fractions of dimers and polymer chains are obtained depending on whether the final reaction conditions were reached by isobaric or isothermal path. We suggest that this difference results from different reaction dynamics in the two cases. The polymerisation rate depends on T and p and on the rotational and orientational states of the molecules. At 1 GPa no polymerisation is observed in sc C 60, while in “hexagon” oriented sc C 60 at 1.7 GPa dimers are already formed 175 K below the fcc–sc transition and a fully polymerised material is obtained just below the transition to the fcc phase.