The Study of the Optical Properties of C ₆₀ Fullerene in Different Organic Solvents

Abstract

Abstract C 60 fullerene exhibits unique optical properties that have high potential for wide photo-optical applications. To analyze the optical properties of C 60 , its excitation and emission properties were studied using UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, which were performed in various, non-polar organic solvents such as toluene, xylene, and trichloroethylene (TCE). The C 60 solutions in toluene, xylene, and TCE displayed similar excitation bands at 625, 591, 570, 535, and 404 nm corresponding to A g → T 1u and A g → T 1g transitions. However, these bands differed from the solid C 60 observed by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The two emission band energies of C 60 solution in toluene and xylene were nearly the same (1.78 and 1.69 eV), whereas the C 60 solution in TCE was shifted to 1.72 and 1.65 eV. Because the polarity of TCE is higher than that of toluene and xylene, the PL spectrum of the C 60 solution in TCE was red-shifted. The PL spectroscopy had a better capability than UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy to distinguish the different interactions between C 60 and the organic solvents due to their different solvent polarities.