How to fill or empty a graphitic onion

✍ Scribed by Daniel Ugarte

• Book ID: 103035141
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 780 KB
• Volume: 209
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2614
• DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(93)87208-k

✦ Synopsis

We present the preparation of metal enclosed clusters using an arc-discharge experiment. Gold clusters can be encapsulated in carbon onions, even if Au atoms have not yet been found to form metallo-fullerenes. We have subjected the sample to an intense electron beam, and in the case of encapsulated gold clusters, we have observed a tendency to migrate out of the concentric graphitic cages, which close again afterwards. These observations suggest the plausibility of a similar mechanism based on opening and closing of the fullmne cage, whether for the growth of stable metallo-fullerenes or for the decomposition of instable ones.