Production of endohedral 133Xe-fullerene by ion implantation

Ion implantation was applied to the production of endohedral 133Xe-fullerene. Using an isotope separator, 133Xe ions were implanted into a fullerene target of C60 and C70 produced by vacuum evaporation on a Ni backing. An HPLC analysis following dissolution of the fullerene targets in o-dichlorobenzene corroborated the formation of 133Xe@C60 and 133Xe@C70, showing a strong correlation between C60/C70 and 133Xe. The observed tailing following 133Xe peaks in the elution curves suggests a possibility of the isolation of endohedral 133Xe-fullerene from empty fullerene.