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

The effect of metallic (Fe, Cu, Co, Ni, Ti) and non-metallic additives (Si, B) on the formation fullerenes from graphite powders was studied in radiofrequency (RF) thermal plasma. main component synthesized fullerene mixtures C60, but higher (C70, C82, C84) could be detected as well. Fe Cu increased content soot. In contrast, decreased presence Ti, Si, B compared to synthesis without additives. However, Ti addition enhanced fullerenes. We provide experimental evidence that decreasing reactor pressure results a lower yield production, accordance with thermodynamic calculations numerical simulations published earlier. titanium, significant quantity TiC also formed by-product. mixture boron showed stability during storage ambient conditions other samples.