Carbon onions synthesis methods

Early Methods for Carbon Onion Synthesis and Transformation under... 

Recent Development in Methods of Carbon Onion Synthesis.288... 

Many methods have been reported for production of nanodiamonds (NDs) such as laser ablation, " plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition," autoclave synthesis from supercritical fluids, ion irradiation of graphite, chlorination of carbides, electron irradiation of carbon onions, and ultrasound cavitation. Smaller NDs can be prepared by detonation processes that yield aggregates of NDs with sizes of 4-5 nm embedded in a detonation soot composed of other carbon allotropes and impurities. An explosive mixture having an overall negative oxygen balance provides a source of both carbon and energy for the conversion. Because of their small size (2-10 nm) detonation NDs have also been referred to as ultradispersed, nanocrystalline... 

Feynman s vision of miniaturization and the Drexler-versus-Smalley debate on feasibility of mechanosynthetic reactions using molecular assemblers were discussed. Fullerenes are the third allotropic form of carbon. Soccer-ball-structured Cgo with a surface filled with hexagons and pentagons satisfies Euler s law. Howard patented the first generation combustion synthesis method for fullerene production. The projected price of the fullerenes has decreased from 165,000 per kg to 200 per kg in the second-generation process. Fullerenes can also be synthesized using chemical methods, a supercritical extraction method, and the electric arc process. Applications of fullerenes include high temperature superconductors, bucky onion catalysts, advanced composites and electromechanical systems, synthetic diamonds. 

In contrast to the spherical carbon onions observed in the first experiments by Ugarte, OLC particles were subsequently produced with polyhedral facets, more closely matching the polyhedral structures predicted from the consideration of nested fullerene structures described above. These polyhedral onion-like particles were synthesized by vacuum heat treatment of carbon sooF and diamond nanoparticles." Figure 10.5 presents HRTEM images of the polyhedral OLC particles produced in the experiments of Kuznetsov et al. The range of synthesis methods available has led to the production of different types of OLC. In addition to their shape, such carbon onions can be characterized by other parameters, such as the number of concentric shells, the spacing between adjacent shells, the size of the innermost shell, and the presence of different types of defects. 

Recently, a new synthesis method based on the decomposition of CH4 on NiO/Al composite powder led to a massive production of carbon onions of about Ig per hour [27, 28]. These carbon onions have a diameter from 5 to 50 nm but some carbon onions contain an Ni core. Wang et al. developed a synthesis method of carbon onions containing Fe core by CVD [29]. C2H2 is decomposed on ferrocene and leads to the formation of carbon onions 15 to 40 nm in diameter. The presence of a metallic core (Fe or Ni) can affect the tribological properties of carbon onions, as previously demonstrated in the case of carbon nanotubes. Carbon onions containing an Ni core would present interesting tribological properties similar to those of carbon nanotnbes (see Section 3.5.1.1). 

---