Molecular dynamics study of self-agglomeration of charged fullerenes in solvents

The agglomeration of fullerenes in solvents is an important phenomenon that is relevant to controlled synthesis of fullerene-based nanowires as well as fullerene-based composites. The molecular aggregation in solvents depends on the atomistic interactions of fullerene with the solvent and is made complicated by the fact that fullerenes accrue negative surface charges when present in solvents such as water. In the present work, we simulated fullerenes of varying size and shape (C60, C180, C240, and C540) with and without surface charges in polar protic (water), polar aprotic (acetone), and nonpolar (toluene) solvents using molecular dynamics method. Our results demonstrate that uncharged fullerenes form agglomerates in polar solvents such as water and acetone and remain relatively dispersed in nonpolar toluene. The presence of surface charge significantly reduces agglomerate size in water and acetone. Additionally, the relative influence of surface charge on fullerene agglomeration depends on the size and geometry of the fullerene with larger fullerenes forming relatively smaller agglomerates. We evaluated the diffusion coefficients of solvent molecules within the solvation shell of fullerenes and observed that they are much lower than the bulk solvent and are strongly associated with the fullerenes as seen in the corresponding radial distribution functions. To correlate agglomerate size with the binding energy between fullerenes, we evaluated the potential of mean force between fullerenes in each solvent. Consistent with the solubility of fullerenes, binding energy between fullerenes is the greatest in water followed by acetone and toluene. The presence of charge decreases the binding energy of fullerenes in water and thus results in dispersed fullerenes.