Electronic Structures of Icosahedral C60 and C60X (X=K, O and Cl) Clusters

ABSTRACTI report the electronic structures of “buckminsterfullerene”, C60 cluster with truncated-icosahedron geometry, and C60X where X is a foreign atom trapped at the center of the C60 cage (X=K, O, and Cl). The local-density approximation with Xα exchange-correlation potential is used. The obtained electronic structure of C60 has a rather large energy gap between the completely occupied highest-occupied state and the lowest-unoccupied state, in accord with previous calculations. In the case of C60K, a valence electron of an alkali-metal atom is found to transfer to the outer C60 surface. On the other hand, in C60O and C60Cl, 2p state of O and 3p state of Cl appear inside the energy gap of the pure C60 cluster. Such variety of results indicates great possibilities of C60X as constructing units of new materials.