Abstract:
The preparation of large crystals is highly important for the characterization and application of a newly found structure but remains a challenge for one-dimensional (1D) C
60 polymers. In this work, we successfully fabricated a 1D C
60 polymer crystal via on-site annealing of a millimeter-sized C
60 molecular crystal with α-Li
3N at 500 °C and ambient pressure. Characterizations show that the C
60 cages in the crystal have been efficiently connected, forming 1D chains along the <110> direction in an orthorhombic 3D structure. At the same time, the crystal maintains a morphology similar to that of the pristine C
60 crystal, providing opportunities for characterization of all the facets of the crystal via Raman spectroscopy and thus suggesting the formation mechanism of such crystals.