title: Structural change of metallofullerene: an easier thermal decomposition.
abstract: We have studied for the first time the structural change of high-purity metallofullerene (Gd@C(82)) upon heat treatment in an ultra-high vacuum system (10(-10) Torr) and examined the decomposition product through successive analysis with MS, IR, Raman, TEM, EDS and XPS. It was found that metallofullerene (Gd@C(82)) had fully collapsed at 580 °C which was lower than that for the complete destruction of C(60). The easier decomposition should be ascribed to the encapsulated metal in the carbon cage which could induce the deformation of the C-C bond. The analysis indicated that the broken metallofullerene (Gd@C(82)) became a kind of graphite-like material with a lot of defects. The Gd atoms leaked out from the carbon cage and aggregated together to form a regular arrangement.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Lab for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS, and National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Shixiong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xihong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Jinquan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Bingkai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Kurash
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Jiaou
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Haijie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Yuliang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shangyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Gengmei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Baoyun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D037741:Fullerenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005682:Gadolinium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D037741:Fullerenes; D002244:Carbon; D005682:Gadolinium