EFFECT OF RESIDENCE TIME ON FULLERENE YIELD

Although there exists no general agreement on mechanistic pathways for fullerene formation, there are some reasonable schemes in the literature explaining most of the features. However, as far as the existing production processes and the final yields are concerned, not the formation but rather chemical stabilization of the relatively hot products was more influence on the final production yield. A continuous helium jet was blown into the reactive zone by a quartz microprobe located 20 mm away from the arc to enhance rapid removal of the products from the high temperature zone. Decreased residence times appear to improve production efficiency.