Effect of Metallic and Non-Metallic Additives on the Synthesis of Fullerenes in Thermal Plasma

oleh: Anna Mária Keszler, Éva Kováts, Eszter Bódis, Zoltán Károly, János Szépvölgyi

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-06-01

Deskripsi

The effect of metallic (Fe, Cu, Co, Ni, Ti) and non-metallic additives (Si, B) on the formation of fullerenes from graphite powders was studied in radiofrequency (RF) thermal plasma. The main component of the synthesized fullerene mixtures was C<sub>60</sub>, but higher fullerenes (C<sub>70</sub>, C<sub>82</sub>, and C<sub>84</sub>) could be detected as well. Fe and Cu additives increased the fullerene content in the soot. In contrast, the fullerene formation decreased in the presence of Ti, Si, and B as compared to the synthesis without additives. However, Ti and B addition enhanced the formation of higher fullerenes. We provide experimental evidence that decreasing the reactor pressure results in a lower yield of fullerene production, in accordance with thermodynamic calculations and numerical simulations published earlier. In the presence of titanium, a significant quantity of TiC was also formed as a by-product. The fullerene mixture synthesized with boron additives showed higher stability during storage in ambient conditions as compared to other samples.