Electron paramagnetic resonance study of ErSc2NC80

TL;DR

This study uses electron paramagnetic resonance to analyze the different configurations of ErSc2N clusters inside C80 fullerenes, revealing anisotropic g factors and cluster rearrangement upon illumination.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed EPR characterization of ErSc2N@C80, identifying two distinct Er3+ sites and their behavior under illumination.

Findings

Identification of two Er3+ sites with distinct g factor anisotropies

Observation of cluster rearrangement inside the cage upon illumination

Temporal analysis of the rearrangement process

Abstract

We present an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of ErSc2N@C80 fullerene in which there are two Er3+ sites corresponding to two different configurations of the ErSc2N cluster inside the C80 cage. For each configuration, the EPR spectrum is characterized by a strong anisotropy of the g factors (gx,y = 2.9, gz = 13.0 and gx,y = 5.3, gz = 10.9). Illumination within the cage absorption range (<600 nm) induces a rearrangement of the ErSc2N cluster inside the cage. We follow the temporal dependence of this rearrangement phenomenologically under various conditions.