Characterization of Fullerene Materials and their Oxidative Stability Using Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy

摘要

Since the generation and IR spectral detection of C_(60) in laboratory-produced carbon soot a few years ago, the constituents of the raw fullerene soot have been intensely investigated. The soot, which is prepared by vaporization of graphite with resistive heating under an inert gas, typically contains <20% fullerene by mass. With the recent interest in the reactivity of both the raw soot and purified fullerene products, new techniques are needed which can quickly identify changes in composition of these materials. Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) is an ideal candidate for the analysis of both raw soot and the pure fullerenes because of its sensitivity, high resolution, sampling versatility, and applicability over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. We report here DRIFT spectra of raw fullerene soot, showing clearly the presence of C_(60) and C_(70), and a DRIFTS study of the in situ air oxidation of the fullerene soot.