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Science 18 April 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5874, pp. 359 - 362
DOI: 10.1126/science.1155866
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Reports

Atomlike, Hollow-Core–Bound Molecular Orbitals of C60

Min Feng,1 Jin Zhao,1 Hrvoje Petek1,2*

The atomic electron orbitals that underlie molecular bonding originate from the central Coulomb potential of the atomic core. We used scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory to explore the relation between the nearly spherical shape and unoccupied electronic structure of buckminsterfullerene (C60) molecules adsorbed on copper surfaces. Besides the known {pi}* antibonding molecular orbitals of the carbon-atom framework, above 3.5 electron volts we found atomlike orbitals bound to the core of the hollow C60 cage. These "superatom" states hybridize like the s and p orbitals of hydrogen and alkali atoms into diatomic molecule-like dimers and free-electron bands of one-dimensional wires and two-dimensional quantum wells in C60 aggregates. We attribute the superatom states to the central potential binding an electron to its screening charge, a property expected for hollow-shell molecules derived from layered materials.

1 Department of Physics and Astronomy and Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
2 Donostia International Physics Center, Paseo Manuel de Lardizabal 4, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: petek{at}pitt.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)