Structural analysis of fullerene from e-C₆₀ elastic scattering

One of the main goals of scattering studies is to obtain insight into the structural features of the target systems. Fullerene (C₆₀), a highly stable allotrope of carbon, has been extensively studied over past years due to its many promising applications. In this work, we access geometrical features of C₆₀ from its electron-impact elastic differential cross-section (DCS) pattern. Two methods are used to simulate the C₆₀ environment: (1) jellium based density functional theory (DFT) [1] and (2) annular square well (ASW) [2] model potential. Partial wave analysis is carried out to obtain the scattering parameters. A comparison study is done using the two model potentials and available experimental results [3,4]. Reasonable agreements are found, which enable extraction of geometrical information from DCS in the momentum transfer scale.

References

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