화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol.119, No.49, 15344-15352, 2015
Fullerenes in Aromatic Solvents: Correlation between Solvation-Shell Structure, Solvate Formation, and Solubility
In this work, an all-atom molecular dynamics simulation technique was employed to gain insight into the dynamic structure of the solvation shell formed around C-60 and phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) in nine aromatic solvents. A new method was developed to visualize and quantify the distribution of solvent molecule orientations in the solvation shell. A strong positive correlation was found between the regularity of solvent molecule orientations in the solvation shell and the experimentally obtained solubility limits for both C-60 and PCBM. This correlation was extended to predict a solubility of 36 g/L for PCBM in 1,2,4-trimethylbenze. The relationship between solvation-shell structure and solubility provided detailed insight into solvate formation of C-60 and solvation in relation to solvent molecular structure and properties. The determined dependence of the solvation-shell structure on the geometric shape of the solvent might allow for enhanced control of fullerene solution-phase behavior during processing by chemically tailoring the solvent molecular structure, potentially diminishing the need for costly and environmentally harmful halogenated solvents and/or additives.