The photochemistry of nano-scaled [C60] fullerene aggregates in water (nC60) has been studied extensively over the past few years and has provided a detailed understanding of reactive oxygen species generation and the mechanisms behind nC60's general loss of photoactivity in water compared to when dispersed in organic solvent. However, detailed studies on the photochemistry of higher fullerenes (C70, C84, etc.) in water appears to be non-existent in the literature. This is of great interest because higher fullerenes exhibit several interesting properties absent from C60, which may impact its behavior after potential environmental release. Herein, we investigate the photochemistry of [C70] fullerene aggregates in water (nC70) and find that they produce significantly more 1O2 than their nC60 counterparts under visible illumination. Studies are conducted to elucidate the mechanism behind nC70's superior 1O2 photosensitization, including investigating 1O2 production as a function of incident excitation wavelength, differences in morphology and crystallinity of nC60 and nC70 (via TEM), and the excited state dynamics of fullerene aggregate species. Results pose interesting questions pertaining to the potential environmental release of higher fullerenes.

Differential photoactivity of aqueous [C<sub>60</sub>] and [C<sub>70</sub>] fullerene aggregates

248th National Meeting (2014)

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Differential photoactivity of aqueous [C60] and [C70] fullerene aggregates

Differential photoactivity of aqueous [C₆₀] and [C₇₀] fullerene aggregates