Differential characteristics of fullerene nanoclusters produced through different techniques
Several types of nC60 manufactured through four different, but established preparation techniques, i.e., solvent exchange using tetrahydrofuran (THF) and water (THF/nC60; solvent exchange using toluene, acetone, THF and water (TTA/nC60), solvent exchange using toluene and water via sonication (SON/(mix/nC60, and extended mixing in water only (mix/nC60), were characterized. Each technique produced suspensions having similar size distributions, ranging from 50 to 2000 nm, with a median value between 250 and 300 nm. The smallest median particle size was measured for the SON/nC60, closely followed by that for the TTA/nC60, THF/nC60, and mix/nC60, respectively. The type of preparation technique used did not substantially affect the distribution or median nC60 particle size. The structure of each type of nC60 varied substantially between each of the production techniques. According to the static light scattering measurements, the mix/nC60 had a more dense structure compared to that for the nC60 prepared using the organic solvents. The density of the nC60 structures prepared using organic solvents was similar to that for fullerol clusters. This is an abstract of a paper presented in the 230th ACS National Meeting (Washington, DC 8/28/2005-9/1/2005).
