Thermal desorption of He-3 from T@C-60

The interaction of recoil tritium (T), with an initial kinetic energy of 2. 7 MeV with C-60 molecules, is studied in a Li-6(n, alpha )T activated homog enized compound matrix of Li2CO3 and C-60. Liquid scintillation spectrometr y coupled with high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed endohedr al T insertion into the fullerene cage upon extraction of the fullerene spe cies into the organic phase. Solid state temperature programmed desorption profiles of the activated compound target showed the desorption of He-3 gas (as a beta (-) decay product from T) from the endohedral T@C-60 at 882 deg reesC. The deconvoluted evolved gas analysis-mass spectral (EGA-MS) data pr ovided a 25% probability of T@C-60 formation upon nuclear activation of the compound target. The non-isothermal kinetics of the tritium desorption, st udied as a function of temperature, revealed the process to be diffusion co ntrolled. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.