The Study of the Optical Properties of C60 Fullerene in Different Organic Solvents

Abstract

C60 fullerene exhibits unique optical properties that have high potential for wide photo-optical applications. To analyze the optical properties of C60, its excitation and emission properties were studied using UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, which were performed in various, non-polar organic solvents such as toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene (TCE). The C60 solutions in toluene, xylene, and TCE displayed similar excitation bands at 625, 591, 570, 535, and 404 nm corresponding to Ag → T1u and Ag → T1g transitions. However, these bands differed from the solid C60 observed by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The two emission band energies of C 60 solution in toluene and xylene were nearly the same (1.78 and 1.69 eV), whereas the C60 solution in TCE was shifted to 1.72 and 1.65 eV. Because the polarity of TCE is higher than that of toluene and xylene, the PL spectrum of the C 60 solution in TCE was red-shifted. The PL spectroscopy had a better capability than UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy to distinguish the different interactions between C60 and the organic solvents due to their different solvent polarities.

Keywords

• c60
• uv-vis absorption
• photoluminescence
• solvatochromism
• solvent polarity