Carbon arc synthesis

In its most general form, the fullerene synthesis could be treated as a complex kinetic scheme described by a huge number of kinetic differential equations. The equilibrium composition comes as the limiting case for infinite time. If we treat the problem from a thermodynamic point of view, we should realize that the conventional standard pressure of 1 atm is considerably different from the actual fullerene synthesis conditions. We should expect lower cluster pressures in the carbon-arc synthesis. The actual entropy and Gibbs free energy change with pressure as can be demonstrated [208-212] on the Cgo and C70 cases based on computed or observed [213] data. For example, the equilibrium constant Xgo/yo for an interconversion between the two clusters, expressed in partial pressures p, offers a deeper insight into the problem [208-212] ... 

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