Quantum chemical molecular dynamics simulations of dynamic fullerene self-assembly in benzene combustion

Using density-functional tight-binding (DFTB)-based quantum chemical molecular dynamics at 2500 and 3000 K, we have performed simulations of benzene combustion by gradually reducing the hydrogen to carbon (H/C) ratio. The accuracy of DFTB for these simulations was found to be on the order of 7-9 kcal/mol when compared to higher-level B3LYP and G3-like quantum chemical methods in extensive benchmark calculations. Ninety direct-dynamics trajectories were run for up to 225 ps simulation time, during which hydrocarbon cluster size, curvature, and C_xH_y composition, carbon hybridization type, and ring count statistics were recorded. Giant fullerene cage formation was observed only after hydrogen was completely eliminated from the reaction mixture, with yields of around 50% at 2500 K and 42% at 3000 K. Cage sizes are mostly in the range from 152 to 202 carbon atoms, with the distribution shifting toward larger cages at lower temperature. In contrast to previous simulations of dynamics fullerene assembly from ensembles of C ₂ molecules, we find that the resulting cages show smaller number of attached carbon chains (antenna) surviving until cage closure. Again, no direct formation pathway for C₆₀ from smaller fragments was observed. Our results challenge the idealized picture of "ordered" growth of PAHs along a route involving only maximally condensed and fully hydrogenated graphene platelets, and favor instead fleeting open-chains with ring structures attached, featuring a large number of hydrogen defects, pentagons, and other nonhexagon ring species.