This article is cited in 10 papers

CONDENSED MATTER

Competition between different mechanisms of stability loss for the (C₂₀)₂ cluster dimer

L. A. Openov, A. I. Podlivaev

Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (State University)

Abstract: The thermal stability of the (C₂₀)₂ cluster dimer consisting of two C₂₀ fullerenes has been numerically examined using the tight-binding method. The simulation of the dynamics of the (C₂₀)₂ dimer at temperatures of T = 2000–3500 K shows that the finite lifetime τ of this metastable system is determined by two fundamentally different processes: the decay of one of the C₂₀ fullerenes and the coalescence of two C₂₀ fullerenes to the C₄₀ cluster. The activation energies for these processes. E _a ≈ 3.4 and 2.7 eV, respectively, as well as their frequency factors, have been determined by analyzing the τ(T) dependence.

PACS: 36.40.Qv, 61.48.+c, 71.15.Pd

Received: 04.07.2006

 English version: Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters, 2006, 84:4, 185–189

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