Arc Discharge Instalation for Fullerene Production

Fullerenes, a new form of carbon, were discovered in 1985 [1] in graphite vaporization under inert gas at low pressure. Fullerenes have many properties different from either diamond or graphite. Potential applications include superconductors, sensors, catalysts, optical and electronic devices, polymer composites, high-energy fuels and biological and medical materials. But wide application of fullerenes is undetermined by an inability to produce large and inexpensively quantities. The arc discharge method developed by Kratschmer’s group [2] in 1990 remains until now the major tool for synthesizing fullerenes. Several works has been done for the macroscopic production of the fullerenes by using other different techniques, laser ablation [1], electron beam evaporation [3], heat resistive method [4], diffusion flame [5] and ion beam sputtering [6]. It is generally accepted that the fullerenes and carbon nanotubes are formatted in special conditions: at a very high temperature (a laser beam or an electric arc discharge evaporation of graphite) and in an inert gas atmosphere at a reduced pressure [7]. On the other hand, fullerenes, fullerene derivatives and fullerene-like structures have been detected in the soot produced for technical applications and also in the diesel motor soot [7]. The electric arc is still one of the nest methods to produce fullerenes, which is why we decided to carry out an installation in order to produce carbon nanostructures with large values of the fullerene yield (fullerene mass proportion in the soot) and productivity. The paper presents the installation components and the obtained results.