Experimental evidence for the influence of charge on the adsorption capacity of carbon dioxide on charged fullerenes

We show, both experimentally and theoretically, that the adsorption of CO 2 is sensitive to charge on a capturing model carbonaceous surface. In the experiment we doped superfluid helium droplets with C 60 and CO 2 and exposed them to ionising free electrons. Both positively and negatively charged C 60 (CO 2 ) n +/− cluster ion distributions are observed using a high-resolution mass spectrometer and they show remarkable and reproducible anomalies in intensities that are strongly dependent on the charge. The highest adsorption capacity is seen with C 60 + . Complementary density functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations provided insight into the nature of the interaction of charged C 60 with CO 2 as well as trends in the packing of C 60 + and C 60 − . The quadrupole moment of CO 2 itself was found to be decisive in determining the charge dependence of the observed adsorption features. Our findings are expected to be applied for the adsorption of CO 2 on charged surfaces in general. The adsorption of CO 2 is sensitive to charge on a capturing model carbonaceous surface, such as C 60 fullerenes.