A Raman study of polymerised C-60

Results of Raman scattering studies on high pressure polymerised and photo polymerised C-60 are reported. Although prepared according to different routes the Raman spectra of the two polymeric phases of C-60 show a quantitative agreement with respect to mode positions and intensity. We conclude from this that both materials have the same structure at least in the short range order, i.e. the same type of bonding and co-ordination between neighbouring C-60 molecules. An investigation of the time dependence of the thermal decomposition of high pressure polymerised C-60 is also presented. The rate of decomposition of the polymeric phase is found to be multi-exponential at all temperatures investigated. From an Arrhenius-type analysis of the short time data and the long time data, respectively, the activation energy for thermal dissociation of polymeric bonds was found to increase with time.