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Carbon soccer ball with extra proton probably most abundant form in space by Staff Writers Nijmegen, the Netherlands (SPX) Nov 26, 2019
It is one of the most common forms of carbon in space: C60, a soccer ball-shaped carbon molecule, but one that has an extra proton attached to it. This is the conclusion of research carried out at Radboud University, which has succeeded for the very first time in measuring the absorption spectrum of this molecule. Such knowledge could ultimately help us to learn more about the formation of planets. The researchers will publish their findings on November 25th in Nature Astronomy. "Almost every property of the iconic C60 molecule - also called a molecular soccer ball, Buckminsterfullerene or buckyball - that can be measured, has been measured," says Jos Oomens, professor of Molecular Structure and Dynamics at Radboud University. Even so, he and his colleagues have managed to measure something new: the absorption spectrum of the molecule in its protonated form, C60H+. "In doing so, we show that it is probably abundant in interstellar clouds, while we also demonstrate a textbook example of the role of symmetry in molecular physics", explains Oomens.
Carbon football in space It is important for astronomers to determine the chemical composition of such interstellar clouds, because this is where new stars and planets are formed, including our own solar system. The more we learn about the molecules present in these clouds, the more we can discover about how our own planet was formed. C60 is one of the most complex molecules identified so far in these clouds. Kroto also predicted that not C60, but the protonated version of the molecule, would be the most prevalent in space. Now the researchers have shown for the first time that this could in fact be the case. "When we compared the infrared spectra emitted by interstellar clouds with our infrared spectrum for protonated C60, we found a very close match", explains Oomens.
Colour change due to symmetry loss In fact, you could say that C60H+ has a very different colour compared with the C60 molecule, although this is in the infrared spectrum. This is a well-known effect in molecular physics, and is beautifully demonstrated in the new spectrum." This is the first time that researchers have successfully measured the light absorption spectrum of protonated C60. Because of the charge on the molecules, they repel one another, and this makes it difficult to obtain a sufficiently high density to obtain an absorption spectrum. "We found a way to work around this using the free-electron laser at the FELIX laboratory. By combining the FELIX laser with a mass spectrometer, C60H+ disintegrates and we can detect the fragmented ions rather than measuring the direct absorption spectrum."
Clean carbon nanotubes with superb properties Espoo, Finland (SPX) Nov 20, 2019 Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) have found many uses in electronics and new touch screen devices. Carbon nanotubes are sheets of one atom-thick layer of graphene rolled up seamlessly into different sizes and shapes. To be able to use them in commercial products like transparent transistors for phone screens, researchers need to be able to easily test nanotubes for their materials properties, and the new method helps with this. Professor Esko I. Kauppinen's group at Aalto has years of experien ... read more
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