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The stability of singly charged C60+ fullerene ions, produced by electron impact ionization of C60, has been studied as a function of the electron energy and the time elapsed from ionization in a Nier-type ion source/double-focusing, sector-field mass spectrometer system. A huge kinetic shift of more than 34 eV (dependent on the observation time) was observed for the dissociation process C60+→C58++C2. The ionization efficiency curves for C58+, C56+, and C54+ fragment ions have been recorded with an energy resolution of approximately 0.5 eV. This allowed us to construct a time-resolved breakdown graph of the decaying C60+ fullerene ion. Two different methods, i.e., the finite heat bath model of Klots and the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus (RRKM) expression, have been used to calculate the decay rates and the breakdown graph of the C60+ ion, and the results of the calculation have been compared with the experimentally obtained breakdown graph. The best fit leads to a dissociation energy (C58+-C2) of 7.1±0.4 eV. This value is somewhat larger than the dissociation energies predicted earlier from the kinetic energy release distributions, and possible reasons for this difference are discussed in this paper. Using a quasithermochemical cycle the dissociation energy (C58-C2) of the neutral C60 molecule has been estimated to be 7.64±0.4 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kr clusters produced in a supersonic nozzle expansion have been studied by electron impact ionization mass spectrometry. Mass resolved spectra (with n up to 180) show two homologous series consisting of Kr+n and Kr2+n ions. The distribution of Kr+n ions shows distinct magic number effects, the observed abundance anomalies being very similar to the ones observed in Ar and Xe. This confirms the superior stability of closed-shell and -subshell icosahedral structures. Moreover, we have found evidence for the occurrence of Kr3+n and Kr4+n ions. It was possible to determine appearance sizes of these multiply charged cluster ions (yielding n2=69, n3=156, and n4=264), and to study the electron energy dependence of singly and doubly charged cluster ions (yielding a linear threshold law). These results are discussed in view of various theoretical considerations and previous results where available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron impact ionization of C60 and C70 was studied using a molecular/electron beam ion source in combination with a two sector field mass spectrometer operated in the ion beam deflection mode. Relative partial ionization cross sections for the production of singly and multiply charged parent ions (up to charge state z=4) and fragment ions (down to C+44 in the case of C60 and down to C2+50 in the case of C70) were determined from threshold up to 1000 eV electron energy. Absolute partial and total ionization cross sections are obtained using a novel approach for the absolute calibration involving an intercomparison of the cation with the anion yield. The results obtained reveal not only an anomalous large parent ion cross section as compared to other ionization channels [e.g., σ(C+60/C60) is more than a factor of 30 larger than σ(C+58/C60)] but also anomalies for the production of multiply charged parent and fragment ions. For instance, the maximum cross section for the formation of C2+60 amounts to 30% of the maximum C+60 cross section and that of C2+70 to about 50% of C+70. Moreover, for all fragment ions, the formation of the doubly charged fragment ions has a larger cross section than that of the respective singly charged fragment ion. These peculiar features of the kinetics of electron impact ionization of C60 and C70 are related to the specific electronic and geometric structures of these fullerenes. The present absolute cross-section data for the summed up partial cross sections are in good agreement with a recent semiclassical calculation from our laboratory. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]