4,008 research outputs found

    Spontaneous formation and stability of small GaP fullerenes

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    We report the spontaneous formation of a GaP fullerene cage in ab-initio Molecular Dynamics simulations starting from a bulk fragment. A systematic study of the geometric and electronic properties of neutral and ionized GaP clusters suggests the stability of hetero-fullerenes formed by a compound with zincblend bulk structure. We find that GaP fullerenes up to 28 atoms have high symmetry, closed electronic shells, large HOMO-LUMO energy gaps and do not dissociate when ionized. We compare our results for GaP with those obtained by other groups for the corresponding BN clusters.Comment: To appear on PRL, 4 pages, 1 figure, Late

    Effect of Peierls transition in armchair carbon nanotube on dynamical behaviour of encapsulated fullerene

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    The changes of dynamical behaviour of a single fullerene molecule inside an armchair carbon nanotube caused by the structural Peierls transition in the nanotube are considered. The structures of the smallest C20 and Fe@C20 fullerenes are computed using the spin-polarized density functional theory. Significant changes of the barriers for motion along the nanotube axis and rotation of these fullerenes inside the (8,8) nanotube are found at the Peierls transition. It is shown that the coefficients of translational and rotational diffusions of these fullerenes inside the nanotube change by several orders of magnitude. The possibility of inverse orientational melting, i.e. with a decrease of temperature, for the systems under consideration is predicted.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

    Transformation of amorphous carbon clusters to fullerenes

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    Transformation of amorphous carbon clusters into fullerenes under high temperature is studied using molecular dynamics simulations at microsecond times. Based on the analysis of both structure and energy of the system, it is found that fullerene formation occurs in two stages. Firstly, fast transformation of the initial amorphous structure into a hollow sp2^2 shell with a few chains attached occurs with a considerable decrease of the potential energy and the number of atoms belonging to chains and to the amorphous domain. Then, insertion of remaining carbon chains into the sp2^2 network takes place at the same time with the fullerene shell formation. Two types of defects remaining after the formation of the fullerene shell are revealed: 7-membered rings and single one-coordinated atoms. One of the fullerene structures obtained contains no defects at all, which demonstrates that defect-free carbon cages can be occasionally formed from amorphous precursors directly without defect healing. No structural changes are observed after the fullerene formation, suggesting that defect healing is a slow process in comparison with the fullerene shell formation. The schemes of the revealed reactions of chain atoms insertion into the fullerene shell just before its completion are presented. The results of the performed simulations are summarized within the paradigm of fullerene formation due to selforganization of the carbon system.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figure

    Polyradical character and spin frustration in fullerene molecules: An ab initio non-collinear Hartree--Fock study

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    Most {\em ab initio} calculations on fullerene molecules have been carried out based on the paradigm of the H\"uckel model. This is consistent with the restricted nature of the independent-particle model underlying such calculations, even in single-reference-based correlated approaches. On the other hand, previous works on some of these molecules using model Hamiltonians have clearly indicated the importance of short-range inter-atomic spin-spin correlations. In this work, we consider {\em ab initio} non-collinear Hartree--Fock (HF) solutions for representative fullerene systems: the bowl, cage, ring, and pentagon isomers of C20_{20}, and the larger C30_{30}, C36_{36}, C60_{60}, C70_{70}, and C84_{84} fullerene cages. In all cases but the ring we find that the HF minimum corresponds to a truly non-collinear solution with a torsional spin density wave. Optimized geometries at the generalized HF (GHF) level lead to fully symmetric structures, even in those cases where Jahn-Teller distortions have been previously considered. The nature of the GHF solutions is consistent with the π\pi-electron space becoming polyradical in nature: each pp-orbital remains effectively singly occupied. The spin frustration, induced by the pentagon rings in an otherwise anti-ferromagnetic background, is minimized at the HF level by aligning the spins in non-collinear arrangements. The long-range magnetic ordering observed is reminiscent of the character of broken symmetry HF solutions in polyacene systems.Comment: 16 figure

    Carbonisation of biomass-derived chars and the thermal reduction of a graphene oxide sample studied using Raman spectroscopy

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    Chars and carbonised chars were produced from three different oxygen-rich precursors (Pinus radiata wood, Phormium tenax leaf fibres, and sucrose crystals). These non-graphitisable carbons were analysed with Raman spectroscopy in order to study the nanostructural development which occurs with increasingly severe heat treatments up to approximately 1000 °C. The thermal reduction of a graphene oxide sample was similarly studied, as this is considered to involve the development of nanometre-scale graphene-like domains within a different oxygen-rich precursor. Increasing the heat treatment temperatures used in the charring and carbonisation processes, led to significant changes in a number of parameters measured in the Raman spectra. Correlations based on these parameter changes could have future applications in evaluating various char samples and estimating the heat treatment temperatures employed during their manufacture. After production heat treatment temperatures exceeded 700 °C, the Raman spectra of the carbonised chars appeared to be largely precursor independent. The spectra of these carbonised chars were similar to the spectra obtained from thermally-reduced graphene oxides, especially when compared to a wide range of other carbonaceous materials analysed using this particular methodology. Partial reduction of a graphene oxide sample due to reasonably mild laser exposures during Raman analysis was also observed
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