Rice Univesrity Logo
    • FAQ
    • Deposit your work
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Photophysics of buckminsterfullerene and friends

    Thumbnail
    Name:
    8900269.PDF
    Size:
    2.968Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Author
    O'Brien, Sean Christopher
    Date
    1988
    Advisor
    Smalley, Richard E.
    Degree
    Doctor of Philosophy
    Abstract
    This dissertation describes a series of photophysics experiments on buckminsterfullerene (C$\sb{60}$), other fullerenes (C$\sb{\rm n}$), and the metallofullerenes (C$\sb{\rm n}$M). Photodissociation is performed in a tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Mass isolated cluster ions are irradiated with a high fluence UV laser and the product ions are mass analyzed. All these clusters dissociate identically: the primary fragmentation event is loss of neutral C$\sb2$. All fragmentation is multiphoton at 6.4 eV. Higher order fragmentation is by loss of an even numbered neutral carbon particle. This production of fullerene fragments stops at C$\sb{32}$ for the pure carbon, and at a size which depends on the metal atom for the metal-carbon clusters. The fullerene product ions show stability at 50, 60, and 70, especially when produced in a long timescale metastable decay process. The spheroidal shell theory of carbon can explain all these results. This theory states that large even C$\sb{\rm n}$ clusters have edgeless spheroidal cage structures with 12 pentagons and n/2-10 hexagons. C$\sb2$ loss occurs because the transition state for C$\sb3$ loss is not accessible. Stability at clusters with 28, 32, 50, 60, and 70 is a result of spherically distributed strain of curvature. C$\sb{60}$ can perfectly distribute its strain explaining its dominance. The central cavity of these structures is large enough to complex a metal ion, but only down to a certain size.
    Keyword
    Physical chemistry
    Citation
    O'Brien, Sean Christopher. "Photophysics of buckminsterfullerene and friends." (1988) Diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/16175.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Collections
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations [14030]

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map

     

    Searching scope

    Browse

    Entire ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map