Theoretical Study of C36 and O@C36 Fullerene Isomers with (C1, C2, Cs, D2, D3h) symmetries: Geometry Optimization, Electrical Properties and Spectroscopic Analysis

TL;DR

This theoretical study uses DFT to analyze the geometry, stability, electronic, and spectroscopic properties of various C36 and O@C36 fullerene isomers with different symmetries, revealing their energetic order and electronic characteristics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive DFT-based analysis of multiple C36 and O@C36 isomers, including stability, electronic, and spectroscopic properties, with insights into the effects of oxygen encapsulation.

Findings

D3h isomer is most stable among C36 isomers

D2 isomer shows highest electrical conductivity

Oxygen encapsulation alters electronic and spectroscopic properties

Abstract

In this study, we conducted a theoretical analysis of specific C36 and O@C36 Fullerene isomers, namely those with (D3h, C1, Cs, C2, D2) symmetries, in the gaseous phase using the DFT method at B3LYP/6-31G* level. We studied geometry optimizations, relative stability, atomization energies, Fermi energy, energy gap, electronic properties, electric dipole moment, polarizabilities, and thermodynamic analysis, along with IR and NMR spectra. Consistently, our findings revealed distinct properties and characteristics among different C36 fullerene isomers. The energetic order of C36 fullerene isomers was established as C36-D3h < C36-C1 < C36-Cs < C36-C2 < C36-D2, a trend unaffected by the encapsulation of oxygen. Notably, the D2 isomer displayed the smallest energy gap, indicating higher electrical conductivity compared to other isomers, while it exhibited the largest gap after encapsulation. Furthermore, we observed that the C1 (D2) isomer exhibited the largest (smallest) Electric dipole moment among the studied C36 isomers, whereas the C2 (D2) isomer demonstrated the largest Electric dipole moment among the O@C36 isomers studied. The encapsulation of oxygen in C36 isomers influenced their properties, including alterations in electronic properties, IR, and NMR chemical shifts. A detailed analysis of BSSE corrections showed the tininess of their impact on the analyzed observables, such that uncorrected and BSSE-corrected calculations led to nearly identical results, confirming the robustness and reliability of the B3LYP/6-31G* approach used in this work and, eventually, in other large and rigid fullerenes systems.