Preparation of He@C60 and He2@C60 by an explosive method

Abstract

We developed an explosion-based method for preparing non-metal endohedral fullerenes. Fullerenes, an explosive and a noble gas are contained in an enclosed space. A flying plate within the apparatus is used to convert the explosion energy into kinetic energy of the gas molecules, which in turn bombard the fullerenes. Through adjusting the quantity of explosive, the gas molecules obtain sufficient energy to penetrate the fullerene surface and then become incarcerated forming endohedral fullerenes. Our technique was successfully applied to the production of He@C60 and He2@C60. However, it may be extendable to other endohedral fullerenes by employing other fullerenes, other inert gases (such as Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe), and an appropriate quantity of explosive.