My head is full of fullerene―fullerene buy, application and properties
Our test-room collaborates with several partner laboratories interested in fullerene buy and others they would like to sell it. I was given a task collect some information about fullerene, since our team leader would like extend group interest in the carbon nanoparticles.
One of our business partner asked us about the possibility of evaluating fullerene particles prepared in his laboratory. It was I nice opportunity of becoming more friendly with “buckyballs”.
Synthesis of fullerene molecules is pretty laborious business. Even a minor difference in the structure can affect the properties of the future product. More about this promising material and reasons for its high price you can find in this article.
How to prepare the fullerene
Laboratory, mentioned above, generates fullerenes by the heating of the base material, graphite in an electric arc. They try to develop new method to fabricate cheaper and more effective (this method is of course business secret) and it’s up to us to appreciate the result of their experiments.
I started crossing the websites and databases to gather the general knowledge on this famous and world-wide celebrated nanoparticle. Here I found many useful information and references on fullerene C60.
The formula is simple.
It’s a pure carbon. Pentagons and hexagons held together result in a shape of ball-like structure. Nobel Prize for the discovery of fullerene went to Japan, 25 years ago. The structure itself was predicted already in 70ies but only theoretically.
Fullerenes can be used in many fields:
- As portable particles in medicine
- For preparation of industrial lubricants
- In photovoltaics.
- For hydrogen storage as fuel tanks of tomorrow
With help of my colleague, well-trained electron-microscopic specialist mentioned earlier, I summarized what should I know before I start working.
What I must consider before starting the work?
The means I can use for evaluate fullerenes
In fact, they are three. I can study molecules using:
- Liquid chromatography (LC)
- Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
- Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)
TEM will be the most suitable method helping me to elucidate the structure of provided fullerene samples. LC can serve as a preliminary diagnostic tool, which shed some light on sample composition. Do not imagine fullerene as a mixture of neatly arranged molecules of the same size! The size of carbon particles in fullerene specimen strongly varies in parameters such density, quality, size and shape.
The limits of our workplace
High resolution transmission electron microscopy can give good result, I can obtain pictures of individual molecules and our workplace is equipped with it. And there are people willing to help me.
The method of fullerene microscopy
I must find some detection limit since fullerenes would be provided in suspension. The crucial problem will be securing them to a surface on which they will be observed (a carbon coated copper-grid).
The attributes to evaluate and the interpretation of results
The main feature judged will be the size. So I need some type of standard (pure black carbon or standardized fullerene molecules). Concerning a method of data representation, size distribution histogram would be illustrative enough.
What is expected to be seen under the electron microscope?
If my method works, I will see closed-cages fullerene structures. The size of fullerene starts somewhere on 0, 5 nanometers and can reach 1, 2 nanometers (compared with the virus fullerene molecule is a pretty small dwarf). There is a lot of work before me. And hours and hours spent in the darkness of basement of preparation and microscopic room.