title: Dynamics of fullerene coalescence.
abstract: Fullerene coalescence experimentally found in fullerene-embedded single-wall nanotubes under electron-beam irradiation or heat treatment is simulated by minimizing the classical action for many atom systems. The dynamical trajectory for forming a (5,5) C120 nanocapsule from two C60 fullerene molecules consists of thermal motions around potential basins and ten successive Stone-Wales-type bond rotations after the initial cage-opening process for which energy cost is about 8 eV. Dynamical paths for forming large-diameter nanocapsules with (10,0), (6,6), and (12,0) chiral indexes have more bond rotations than 25 with the transition barriers in a range of 10-12 eV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Korea. yonghyun@mail.kaist.ac.kr
authors.forename: Yong-Hyun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: In-Ho
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Sangsan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee