Synthesis and characterization of higher fullerene (C 84) in dc arc discharge using Cu as a catalyst

Abstract

The synthesis of fullerenes was carried out using dc arc discharge technique. The separation and identification of higher fullerene C 84 was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The raw soot collected from the high temperature region was dissolved in toluene and then toluene-extracted soot dissolved in n-hexane and kept in laboratory environment for more than one month. The peaks of C 60 and C 70 along with C 84 were observed. The existence of C 84 was confirmed by using linear regression between capacity factor log [ k′] and the carbon number.