Coulomb stability limit of highly charged Cq+60 fullerenes

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Jul 1;95(1):013401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.013401. Epub 2005 Jun 30.

Abstract

We perform density functional theory calculations of Cq+60 and Cq+58 fullerenes as well as of transition states related to dissociation of Cq+60 into Cq-s(+)58 and C(s+)2 for charges q=0-14. For q< or =8, the lowest fission barrier corresponds to C+2 emission, whereas, for higher q values, the lowest barrier corresponds to the emission of two atomic fragments [2C]s+ with s> or =2. We conclude that the Coulomb stability limit corresponds to q=14.