The interaction of molecular oxygen with thin C60 films was investigated using the 3.04MeV resonance in the 16O(α, α)16O elastic scattering reaction to measure the concentration profile of oxygen in the fullerene films. A thin (d ≈ 20nm) layer containing oxygen was observed on the surface of C60 films (d ≈ 200nm) exposed to about 1atm of O2 for 1h in the absence of light. In contrast, oxygen was uniformly distributed throughout the entire film when samples were irradiated for 1h with either a 488nm Ar ion laser or Xe lamp was the presence of about 1atm of O2. This O2 uptake was found to be both power-dependent and reversible.

Investigation of Photoassisted Diffusion of Oxygen in Solid C60 Films Using Resonant Alpha-Scattering. Eloi, C.C., Robertson, J.D., Rao, A.M., Zhou, P., Wang, K.A., Eklund, P.C.: Journal of Materials Research, 1993, 8[12], 3085-9