Insight into the vertical detachment energy oscillation of Na(n)C60(-) clusters

Positively and Negatively Charged Cesium and (C60) m Cs n Cluster Ions

We report on the formation and ionization of cesium and C60Cs clusters in superfluid helium nanodroplets. Size distributions of positively and negatively charged (C60) m Cs n± ions have been measured for m ≤ 7, n ≤ 12. Reproducible intensity anomalies are observed in high-resolution mass spectra. For both charge states, (C60) m Cs3± and (C60) m Cs5± are particularly abundant, with little dependence on the value of m. Distributions of bare cesium cluster ions also indicate enhanced stability of Cs3± and Cs5±, in agreement with theoretical predictions. These findings contrast with earlier reports on highly Cs-doped cationic fullerene aggregates which showed enhanced stability of C60Cs6 building blocks attributed to charge transfer. The dependence of the (C60) m Cs3- anion yield on electron energy shows a resonance that, surprisingly, oscillates in strength as m increases from 1 to 6.

Absorption spectra of alkali-C₆₀ nanoclusters

We investigate the absorption spectra of alkali-doped C60 nanoclusters, namely C60Nan, C60Kn, and C60Lin, with n = 1, 2, 6, 12, in the framework of the time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT). We study the dependence of the absorption spectra on the nature of the alkali. We show that in few cases the absorption spectra depend on the arrangement of the alkali atoms over the fullerene, though sometimes the absorption spectra do not allow us to distinguish between different configurations. When only one or two alkali atoms are adsorbed on the fullerene, the optical response of alkali-doped C60 is similar to that of the anion C60(-) with a strong response in the UV domain. In contrast, for higher concentration of alkali, a strong optical response is predicted in the visible range, particularly when metal-metal bonds are formed. The weak optical response of the I(h)-symmetry C60Li12 is proposed to be used as a signature of its structure.