Synthesis of endohedral-fullerenes using laser ablation plasma from solid material and vaporized fullerenes

Abstract

We have recently developed a technique to synthesize endohedral fullerenes that involves the collision of vaporized fullerenes and plasma particles produced following the laser ablation of a solid material. Using this technique, we synthesized N@C60 using a boron nitride rod as the source of the plasma particles. Optical emission measurements showed that the kinetic energy of N+ ions could be controlled from 20 to 65 eV by changing the energy of the incident laser beam. The synthesis of N@C60 was performed with a N+ kinetic energy of 65 eV, a C60 vaporizing temperature of 800 °C, and a total reaction time of one hour. By optimizing the kinetic energy for producing the encapsulated particles, we were able to synthesis N@C60 with a purity of 4.52 x 10−3%. The purity of our material was two orders of magnitude higher than that achieved using alternative physical synthetic methods that use solid materials, such as arc discharge and co-evaporation methods.