In-situ infrared spectroscopy of a photoirradiated potassium-doped C60 film

Photodimerization between C60 molecules in a potassium-doped C60 film (a mixture of α-C60 and K3C60 phases) has been investigated using in-situ Fourier-transform (FT) infrared spectroscopy in combination with tight-binding molecular dynamics calculations. A comparison of the experimental spectrum of C60 dimers, which was found to be a main product in the photoirradiated K-doped film using an FT mass spectrometer, with the theoretical spectra for several isomers of C120 suggests that C120 species with structures similar to a bucky peanut were formed in the photoirradiated film.