KINETIC ENERGY RELEASES UPON DISSOCIATION OF ENDOHEDRAL FULLERENE CATIONS

Abstract Kinetic energy release distributions are reported for the emission of C 2 from the positive ions of C 60 , Ne@C 60 , C 82 and La@C 82 . Finite heat bath theory was applied to deduce the C 2 binding (vaporization) energies, ΔE vap . The results obtained are: ΔE vap (C 60 + ) = 7.1 ± 0.5 eV, ΔE vap (Ne@C 60 + ) = 7.4 ± 0.5 eV; ΔE vap (C 82 + ) = 6.1 ± 0.4 eV and ΔE vap (La@C 82 + ) = 7.3 ± 0.4 eV. The endohedral neon atom has a minor effect on the cage binding, while lanthanum has a relatively strong effect.