A new multifunctional 2D material is theoretically predicted based on systematic ab-initio calculations and model simulations for the honeycomb lattice of endohedral fullerene W@C28 molecules. It has structural bistability, ferroelectricity, multiple magnetic phases, and excellent valley characters and can be easily functionalized by the proximity effect with magnetic isolators such as MnTiO3. Furthermore, we may also manipulate the valley Hall and spin transport properties by selectively switch a few W@C28 molecules to the metastable phase. These findings pave a new way in integrate different functions in a single 2D material for technological innovations.
Using the density functional theory calculations, we studied the ferroelectric, electrical and optical properties of series of bias-controllable endohedral fullerenes (TM@C28, TM= Ti-Ni). The important finding is that Cr@C28 has a large electric dipole moment and an appropriate bandgap (~1.2eV) as building blocks for ferroelectric-photovoltaic materials. By sandwiching Cr@C28 molecules between two van der Waals layers, e.g., graphene or transition metal dichalcogenides, the heterostructures may have exotic ferroelectric and photovoltaic properties with high tunability and performance.
Density-functional theory based global geometry optimization is used to scrutinize the possibility of endohedral doping of hydrogenated Si fullerenes as a route to Si nanostructures with high magnetic moments. In contrast to previous suggestions, our unbiased sampling finds the smallest Si16H16 endohedral cage generally too small to encapsulate 3d metal dopant atoms. For the next larger fullerene-like cage though, we identify perfectly symmetric MSi20H20 (M = Co, Ti, V, Cr) cage structures as ground states. These structures conserve the high spin moment of the dopant atom and therewith undersc…
In this paper, we discuss the results of our study of the synthesis of endohedral iron-fullerenes. A low energy Fe+ ion beam was irradiated to C60 thin film by using a deceleration system. Fe+-irradiated C60 thin film was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography and laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We investigated the performance of the deceleration system for using a Fe+ beam with low energy. In addition, we attempted to isolate the synthesized material from a Fe+-irradiated C60 thin film by high performance liquid chromatography.
Well-protected magnetization, tunable quantum states and long coherence time are desired for the use of magnetic molecules in spintronics and quantum information technologies. In this work, endohedral fullerene molecules M@C28 with different transition metal cores were explored through systematic first-principles calculations and spin dynamics analyses. Many of them have stable magnetization, giant magnetic anisotropy energy and bias-tunable structure. In particular, some of them may have coherence time up to several milliseconds for their quantum spin states at high temperature (~10K) after f…
We report the results of molecular dynamics simulations of the release of five species of noble gas atoms trapped inside a small cluster of fullerenes in the temperature range 4000K < T < 5000K. We find that larger noble gas atoms are generally released at a slower rate and that helium is released considerably more rapidly than any of the other noble gases. The differing release rates are due not only to the differences in the size and mass of a given endohedral species but also because larger trapped atoms tend to stabilize the fullerene cage against thermal fluctuations. Unlike with the case…
The model of endofullerenes M@C60 with M=Li,Na,Cs,Cu,Ag are proposed for study an effect of the nature of endoatoms upon features of the minimum energy structures. They were calculated by SCF Hartree-Fock method with ECP (Ag and Cs) and all-electronic basis sets assuming arbitrary symmetry distortion (C1 point group). All models display the off-center position for the endoatoms and the charge transfer between M and the carbon cage strongly dependent on the nature of endoatoms. Ionization potentials and atomic radii are proposed as the basic factors providing the properties of endofullerenes
Molecular Dynamics (MD) computer simulations are utilized to better understand the escape of neon from small (N=5) endohedral Ne@C60 clusters. Multiple runs at various temperatures are used to increase the reliability of our statistics. The cluster holds together until somewhere between T = 1150K and T = 1200K, where it dissociates, showing no intermediate sign of melting or fullerene disintegration. When the temperature is increased to around T = 4000K, the encapsulated neon atoms begin to leave the cluster, with the fullerene molecules still remaining intact. At temperatures near T = 4400K, …
We measure 13C and 45Sc NMR lineshapes and spin-lattice relaxation times (T1) to probe the orientational dynamics of the endohedral metallofullerene Sc3N@C80. The measurements show an activated behavior for molecular reorientations over the full temperature range with a similar behavior for the temperature dependence of the 13C and 45Sc data. Combined with spectral data from Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR, the measurements can be interpreted to mean the motion of the encapsulated Sc3N molecule is independent of that of the C80 cage, although this requires the similar temperature dependence of …
Endohedral Derivatives of the Recently Synthesized Two-Dimensional Fullerene Networks: Electronic and Optical Insights from First-Principles Calculations
Organic bulk-heterojunctions (BHJ) and solar cells containing the trimetallic nitride endohedral fullerene 1-[3-(2-ethyl)hexoxy carbonyl]propyl-1-phenyl-Lu3N@C80 (Lu3N@C80-PCBEH) show an open circuit voltage (VOC) 0.3 V higher than similar devices with [6,6]-phenyl-C[61]-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM). To fully exploit the potential of this acceptor molecule with respect to the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells, the short circuit current (JSC) should be improved to become competitive with the state of the art solar cells. Here, we address factors influencing the JSC in blend…
Using density functional theory, we examine a nitrogen-doped anionic golden cage (NAu$_{16}^-$). For the exohedral adsorption that is more stable than the endohedral doping, the bridge and hollow sites have larger binding energies than the atop sites by ~1 eV. When the N atom is adsorbed on the cage, electrons are transferred from Au$_{16}^-$ to the N atom. The transition between the exohedral and endohedral adsorption may occur thermally through a bridge site. In the infrared active vibrational spectra, exohedral doping causes greater intensities at higher frequencies than endohedral doping.
Our ability to understand and tailor metal-organic interfaces is mandatory to functionalize organic complexes for next generation electronic and spintronic devices. For magnetic data storage applications, metal-carrying organic molecules, so called single molecular magnets (SMM) are of particular interest as they yield the possibility to store information on the molecular scale. In this work, we focus on the adsorption properties of the prototypical SMM Sc3N@C80 grown in a monolayer film on the Ag(111) substrate. We provide clear evidence of a pyramidal distortion of the otherwise planar Sc3N …
In three out of five cases considered in our work, DFT calculations presented by Xu and Hou in their Comment give the same ground state confirmations. On the other hand, depending on the choice of the exchange-correlation functional, the geometry optimization within DFT results in different ground state confirmations for B@C60 and B60, Table I of the Comment. Therefore, the energy balance between nearest confirmations in these molecular complexes is subtle, and various methods can give different ground state structures. Consequently, the results of our method - the Hartree-Fock (HF) approach w…
Any single molecular magnets (SMM) perspective for application is as good as its magnetization stability in ambient conditions. Endohedral metallofullerenes (EMFs) provide a solid basis for promising SMMs. In this study, we investigated the behavior of functionalized EMFs on a gold surface (EMF-L-Au). Having followed the systems molecular dynamics paths, we observed that the chemically locked inner cluster inside fullerene cage will remain locked even at room temperature due to the ligand-effect. We have located multiple possible minima with different charge arrangements between EMF-L-Au fragm…
A single molecule magnet (SMM) can maintain its magnetization direction over a long period of time [1,2]. It consists in a low number of atoms that facilitates the understanding and control of the ground state, which is essential in future applications such as high-density information storage or quantum computers [3,4]. Endohedral fullerenes realize robust, nanometer sized, and chemically protected magnetic clusters that are not found as free species in nature. Here we demonstrate how adding one, two, or three dysprosium atoms to the carbon cage results in three distinct magnetic ground states…
Searching for novel two-dimensional (2D) materials is crucial for the development of the next generation technologies such as electronics, optoelectronics, electrochemistry and biomedicine. In this work, we designed a series of 2D materials based on endohedral fullerenes, and revealed that many of them integrate different functions in a single system, such as ferroelectricity with large electric dipole moments, multiple magnetic phases with both strong magnetic anisotropy and high Curie temperature, quantum spin Hall effect or quantum anomalous Hall effect with robust topologically protected e…
We studied the temperature stability of the endohedral fullerene molecule, N@C60, inside single-wall carbon nanotubes using electron spin resonance spectroscopy. We found that the nitrogen escapes at higher temperatures in the encapsulated material as compared to its pristine, crystalline form. The temperature dependent spin-lattice relaxation time, T_1, of the encapsulated molecule is significantly shorter than that of the crystalline material, which is explained by the interaction of the nitrogen spin with the conduction electrons of the nanotubes.
Endohedral fullerenes are perfect nanolaboratories for the study of magnetism. The substitution of a diamagnetic scandium atom in Dy2ScN@C80 with gadolinium decreases the stability of a given magnetization and demonstrates Gd to act as a single atom catalyst that accelerates the reaching of thermal equilibrium. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism at the M4,5 edges of Gd and Dy shows that the Gd magnetic moment follows the sum of the external and the dipolar magnetic field of the two Dy ions and compared to Dy2ScN@C80 a lower exchange barrier is found between the ferromagnetic and the antiferroma…
