Sinitsa, AS, Chamberlain, TW orcid.org/0000-0001-8100-6452, Zoberbier, T et al. (7 more authors) (2017) Formation of nickel clusters wrapped in carbon cages: towards new endohedral metallofullerene synthesis. Nano Letters, 17 (2). pp. 1082-1089. ISSN 1530-6984
Abstract
Despite the high potential of endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) for application in biology, medicine and molecular electronics, and recent efforts in EMF synthesis, the variety of EMFs accessible by conventional synthetic methods remains limited and does not include, for example, EMFs of late transition metals. We propose a method in which EMF formation is initiated by electron irradiation in aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron spectroscopy (AC-HRTEM) of a metal cluster surrounded by amorphous carbon inside a carbon nanotube serving as a nanoreactor and apply this method for synthesis of nickel EMFs. The use of AC-HRTEM makes it possible not only to synthesize new, previously unattainable nanoobjects but also to study in situ the mechanism of structural transformations. Molecular dynamics simulations using the state-of-the-art approach for modeling the effect of electron irradiation are performed to rationalize the experimental observations and to link the observed processes with conditions of bulk EMF synthesis.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Nano Letters, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04607. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | carbon nanotube; electron irradiation; Endohedral metallofullerenes; molecular dynamics; transmission electron microscopy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Chemistry (Leeds) > Inorganic Chemistry (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jan 2017 09:22 |
Last Modified: | 11 Jan 2018 01:38 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04607 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Chemical Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04607 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:110722 |