Surface modifications of ferrocene using argon ion implantation and γ-irradiation

The effect of Ar+-ion implantation (energy 100 keV) has been studied on ferrocene pellets at 1×1014 and 5×1014 ions/cm2 doses. The characterization techniques used were infrared spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction and bulk X-ray diffraction. At the lower dose, formation of a metastable alkene occurred; at the higher dose a metastable alkane was formed. The X-ray data showed that metastable phases like Fe-C, (Fe-C)H and carbon phases were produced at the surface. Not being observable on the surface, the organic counterparts are expected to be volatile in nature. When treated with varying energy doses, ferrocene showed bulk damage; the IR spectra showed the loss of fine structure and only a single peak persisted, which was due to metal-ring vibration