Formation of Po@C60 -: art. no. 153411

Radioactive endohedral fullerenes, Po-210@C-60 and the dimers, are detected by using radiochemical and radiochromatographic techniques. The results show that a Po atom can be inserted into C-60 by a recoil process following a nuclear reaction. Using ab initio molecular dynamics simulations based on the all-electron mixed-basis approach, we also theoretically showed that the formation of a Po doped fullerene is possible. These findings may be useful for several nuclear applications such as nuclear medicine and/or nuclear waste disposal.