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Science 9 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5668, p. 167
DOI: 10.1126/science.304.5668.167f
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The fullerene C60 is a good electron acceptor, and fullerides can be formed by doping C60 crystals with alkali metals like potassium. Yamachika et al. (p. 281) have followed the alkali-metal doping of a C60 molecule that was adsorbed onto a silver surface that was partially covered with potassium atoms. The samples were kept at very low temperatures (7 Kelvin) to minimize thermal motion. The C60 molecule was moved with a scanning tunneling microscope tip over a potassium atom to create KC60; successive steps led to the synthesis of K4C60. They also observed the loss of a potassium atom from K4C60 to a surface impurity. The charging of the C60 molecule could be followed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy.




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