Fullerenes optical properties

Measurements of the optical properties in this range of wavelengths can probe the fundamental electronic transitions in these nanostructures. Some of the aforementioned effects have in fact been experimentally revealed in this series of experiments (90). As mentioned above, the IF nanoparticles in this study were prepared by a careful sulfidization of oxide nanoparticles. Briefly, the reaction starts on the surface of the oxide nanoparticle and proceeds inward, and hence the number of closed (fullerene-like) sulfide layers can be controlled quite accurately during the reaction. Also, the deeper the sulfide layer in the nanoparticle, the smaller is its radius and the larger is the strain in the nanostructure. Once available in sufficient quantities, the absorption spectra of thin films of the fullerene-like particles and nanotubes were measured at various temperatures (4-300 K). The excitonic nature of the absorption of the nanoparticles was established, which is a manifestation of the semiconducting nature of the material. Furthermore, a clear red shift in the ex-citon energy, which increased with the number of sulfide layers of the nanoparticles, was also observed (see Fig. 21). The temperature dependence of the exciton... 

A whole new chemistry has been developed around this discovery, and the unusual properties have given rise to suggestions that it could be made into products for a superconducting material, a three-dimensional polymer, new catalysts, new materials with unusual electrical and optical properties and very high mechanical strength, sensors, nanotubes, nanowires, and so on. At this moment, there are, as yet, no products based on the fullerene on the market. 

Makarova T.L. Electrical and optical properties of monomerical and polymerical fullerenes (overview) // Fizika i tekhnika poluprovodnikov. -2001. - V.35, N3. - P. 257-293 (in Russian). 

Makarova, T.L. (2001) Electrical and optical properties of pristine and polymerized fullerenes. Semiconductors 35, 257-293. 

Fullerenes and their chemical compounds are perspective materials for application in nanotechnology, spintronics and single-electronics [1], Thus, the search of ways of high-speed, contactless, selective control of electron-optical properties of fullerene-based materials is actual problem. It is well known, that weak magnetic field (MF) with induction B < IT effectively influences electron-optical properties of some organic compounds (for instance, anthracene, tetracene, etc.) [2]. 

E. Westin, Calculations of Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Ionic Crystal Surfaces and Fullerenes Thesis Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg, 1995. 

In this review we shall focus on some of these new forms of solid carbon. The emphasis is on the physical properties of electrically conducting fullerides, fulleride polymers and nanotubes, but the neutral fullerene polymers, dimers and onion-like structures are also included for completeness. This paper is by no means a review of all important work in the domain. We fully realize that in choosing the material we had to be subjective and we selected material best known to us. A few other short reviews have been published recently on fullerene polymers on the optical properties of polymeric fullerenes [15] and on the physical properties of conducting fullerenes [16,17]. There are extensive recent reviews on the pressure and heat induced polymers [18]. We did not include in the paper the physical and chemical properties of alkali fullerides with variously charged monomer ions. These are the subject of other reviews and are described in detail in a recent monograph [19]. In particular, there are comprehensive reviews [20,21] on experiments and theories aimed at the understanding of the mechanism of superconductivity. 

Shuai, Z., Bredas, J.L. Electronic structure and nonlinear optical properties of fullerenes C q and C70 A valence-effective-Hamiltonian study. Phys. Rev. B 46, 16135-16141 (1992)... 

It is not possible to give here a complete review of DMol applications, so only a non-systematic selection of applications is mentioned here. Applications to chemical reactions have been studied by Seminario, Grodzicki and Politzer [10]. Buckminster-fullerenes have been studied by various groups [11] including also nonlinear optical properties [8] and the geometrical structure of Cs4 [13]. Cluster model studies of surfaces with adsorbates are reported in [14-17]. Cluster models for point defects in solids, in particular spin density studies of interstitial muon can be found in [18,19]. Spin density studies of molecular magnetic materials are in ref [20]. Polymers have been studied by Ye et al [21]. 

The field of clusters and fullerenes represents areas of modern science where the properties are determined by the reduced coordination. This will modify the functional properties when clusters are used in disperse forms or as units in cluster assembled materials. Examples of applications can be catalysts, sensor materials, units in nanophase/nanocrystalline materials with improved mechanical, electrical, magnetic or optical properties, of cluster based materials for sun protection, solar energy conversion, as an alternative to quantum dots produced with traditional techniques, fabrication of mesoscopic systems etc. The hope is to tune the properties with cluster size, making cluster based materials with characteristics more advanced than those of conventional materials. Production of these types of cluster and exploration of their properties of free as well as deposited clusters are a challenging task of basic and applied science which will be covered in the following sections of this article. 

The potential influence of substitution of a carbon atom by a nitrogen atom in the C50 cage structure on its electronic and optical properties has attracted the theoretical interest of a considerable number of scientific groups since 1992. Neutral aza[60]fullerene (CAS 2H-l-aza[5,6]fulleren-C6o-f/z-yl) is an open shell molecule due to the trivalency of nitrogen leaving a dangling bond on an adjacent carbon atom in the cage (structure 1 in Fig. l).Aza[60]fullerene in the first oxidized state is sometimes called aza[60]fulleronium (CAS azonia[5,6]ful-lerene-C6o-4)> for which one resonance structure is shown (2, see Fig. 1). 

The synthesis of fullerene-containing polymers is noteworthy for several reasons. On the one hand, once Cgg is attached to a polymer, most of the fullerene properties are transferred to the polymer. Thus, for instance, electroactive and photoactive polymers or polymers with nonlinear optical properties can be prepared. On the other hand, hardly processible fullerenes embedded in highly soluble polymers may become more easily amenable to further treatments. The resulting materials might eventually be used for surface coating, photoconducting devices, or to create new molecular networks. 

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