Synthesis and growth mechanism of differently shaped C60 nano/microcrystals produced by evaporation of various aromatic C60 solutions

We present a detailed study of the synthesis of C60 nano- and microrods as well as crystals with normal shapes by the evaporation of C60 solutions based on different aromatic solvents. C60 nano- and microrods are grown with high yield by vaporizing C60 solutions in meta-isomers of aromatic solvents on different substrates while para-isomers give a different type of growth leading to highly crystalline two- and three-dimensional nano- and microcrystals with fcc structure. The role of solvent properties was investigated by using positional isomers containing different halogen radicals. The as-grown crystal rods form hexagonal structures but transform into fcc structure on annealing in vacuum. IR and EDX analysis indicate that solvents remain in the hexagonal nano- and microrods, while it is hard to detect any trace of solvents in the two- or three-dimensional nano- and microcrystals. Furthermore, we present direct proof of the nucleation-growth mechanism for C60 rods. By the vaporization method, the solubility of C60 in the studied halogen aromatic solvents is found to correlate with the diameter distribution of the C60 rods and we suggest that the chemical affinity of the aromatic solvent molecules to C60 may determine its ability to force C60 to form rod-shaped crystals.