Production of fullerenes with concentrated solar flux
Research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has demonstrated that fullerenes can be produced using highly concentrated sunlight from a solar furnace. Since they were first synthesized in 1989, fullerenes have been the subject of intense research. They show considerable commercial potential in advanced materials and have potential applications that include semiconductors, superconductors, high-performance metals, and medical technologies. The most common fullerene is C{sub 60}, which is a molecule with a geometry resembling a soccer ball. Graphite vaporization methods such as pulsed-laser vaporization, resistive heating, and carbon arc have been used to produce fullerenes. None of these, however, seems capable of producing fullerenes economically on a large scale. The use of concentrated sunlight may help avoid the scale-up limitations inherent in more established production processes. Recently, researchers at NREL made fullerenes in NREL`s 10 kW High Flux Solar Furnace (HFSF) with a vacuum reaction chamber designed to deliver a solar flux of 1200 W/cm{sup 2} to a graphite pellet. Analysis of the resulting carbon soot by mass spectrometry and high-pressure liquid chromatography confirmed the existence of fullerenes. These results are very encouraging and we are optimistic that concentrated solar flux can provide a means for large-scale, economical production of fullerenes. This paper presents our method, experimental apparatus, and results of fullerene production research performed with the HFSF.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-83CH10093
- OSTI ID:
- 10115666
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/TP-471-5864; CONF-940326-7; ON: DE94000266; BR: WM1020000
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ASME/JSME/JSES international solar energy conference, San Francisco, CA (United States), 27-30 Mar 1994; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Formation of fullerenes in highly concentrated solar flux
Production of fullerenes using concentrated solar flux
Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
FULLERENES
SYNTHESIS
SOLAR PROCESS HEAT
SOLAR FURNACES
GRAPHITE
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
SOLAR
SOLAR ENERGY
SOLAR FLUX
HIGH FLUX SOLAR FURNACE
140905
360601
400201
AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROCESS HEAT
PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURE
CHEMICAL AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES