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.