Fullerene buying has come a long way from humble beginnings. Learn the history of fullerene to understand the current craze

Business people involved in the fullerene
buying from MST
nano or similar companies specialising in its production can be
interested in the history of this material’s discovery and application. Here is
a concise introduction to this whole problematic.

 

Fullerene buyers, learn
what is it that you’re putting your money into!

 

●      
Fullerene represents one of the
four forms of pure carbon, those being: graphite, diamond, chaoithe /
ceraphite, and fullerenes.

●      
Fullerenes can be commonly
found in nature, but they were not officially recognised as the fourth form of
carbon until relatively recently.

●      
In fact, the early electronic
microscopy that was applied to these materials identified a series of carbon
filaments, including the filaments comprising the soot and carbon black.

●      
Following the 1980s, these
filaments were recognised as fullerenes, and they were consequently studied,
described (classified) and produced.

●      
During the classification
procedure, it was possible to determine that fullerenes can appear in a variety
of configurations such as spherical, oblate tubular and many tube-like
transitions.

●      
 Given this situation, the scientists also
concluded that multi-layered fullerene structures were possible and that these
forms can also be found in nature.

 

Due to advantageous physical
properties of the fullerene (it is harder than diamond), the material has been
widely utilised since its introduction to the market in 1985. Its applications
range from lubricants to construction girders, including fullerene spheres
(C60, commonly known as Bucky balls), nanotubes, sheets, buckets, and
endohedral fullerenes (various caged structures). To read about researchers
from Seoul describing the Bucky tubes, click here.

 

Challenges that the market
has to face

 

Currently, the most challenging issue the markets have to face is
the need to implement more economically feasible and efficient ways how to
produce the fullerene in bulk. So far, production methods have evolved from
laboratory prototypes to research products that finally appeared in the market.
It seems very likely that joint academic and private research soon provides a
suitable production method, and the fullerene shall become a material commonly
available for specialised applications.

 

Fullerene in the form of
spheres

 

Fullerene spheres (also known as Bucky balls) in the form of C60 are
an allotrope of carbon (like diamonds, but your fiancé is not going to like a
fullerene ring). They were discovered in 1985 by application of laser
evaporation of graphite. The same technique was subsequently utilised for the
creation of fullerene sheets and foams. While the researchers began to
understand the variety of different configurations that can be derived from the
foam more properly, they also invented endohedral fullerenes, which can be
arranged like structures and these can surround atoms, ions or molecules of
elements other than carbon.

 

Fullerene as carbon
nanotubes

 

In 1991, carbon nanotubes were introduced to the market. They were
produced by vaporising the carbon graphite with an electric arc under an inert
atmosphere (little or no oxygen) and regulating the chemical vapour deposition.

 

Generally speaking, the single-walled nanotubes are graphite or
graphene sheets rolled into a cylinder and caped with pentagonal carbon rings.
All of these forms of fullerene display unique thermal conductivity, as well as
particular chemical characteristics in the form of their physical structure and
composition.

 

Based on the uniqueness of this material, the fullerene demand is
projected to be growing in the short and mid-term. Moreover, according to
economic & financial forecast, the global fullerene market shall increase
approximately by 14% between 2014 and 2019.