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Kinetically stabilized C-60-toluene solvate nanostructures with a discrete absorption edge enabling supramolecular topotactic molecular exchange

Rana, Moumita and Bharathanatha, RR and Gautam, Ujjal K (2014) Kinetically stabilized C-60-toluene solvate nanostructures with a discrete absorption edge enabling supramolecular topotactic molecular exchange. In: CARBON, 74 . pp. 44-53.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2014.03.001

Abstract

Nanosized fullerene solvates have attracted widespread research attention due to recent interesting discoveries. A particular type of solvate is limited to a fixed number of solvents and designing new solvates within the same family is a fundamental challenge. Here we demonstrate that the hexagonal closed packed (HCP) phase of C-60 solvates, formed with m-xylene, can also be stabilized using toluene. Contrary to the notion on their instability, these can be stabilized from minutes up to months by tuning the occupancy of solvent molecules. Due to high stability, we could record their absorption edge, and measure excitonic life-time, which has not been reported for any C-60 solvate. Despite being solid, absorbance spectrum of the solvates is similar in appearance to that of C-60 in solution. A new absorption band appears at 673 nm. The fluorescence lifetime at 760 nm is similar to 1.2 ns, suggesting an excited state unaffected by solvent-C-60 interaction. Finally, we utilized the unstable set of HCP solvates to exchange with a second solvent by a topotactic exchange mechanism, which rendered near permanent stability to the otherwise few minutes stable solvates. This is also the first example of topotactic exchange in supramolecular crystal, which is widely known in ionic solids. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type: Journal Article
Publication: CARBON
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Additional Information: Copyright for this article belongs to the PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, THE BOULEVARD, LANGFORD LANE, KIDLINGTON, OXFORD OX5 1GB, ENGLAND
Department/Centre: Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering
Date Deposited: 24 Jun 2014 05:11
Last Modified: 24 Jun 2014 05:11
URI: http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/49289

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