• Submit to Molecules Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [575 KB]
• Full-Text XML
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• PubMed/Medline
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Sathish, M
• Miyazawa, K
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Sathish, M
• Miyazawa, K
• [+] on PubMed
• Sathish, M
• Miyazawa, K

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter

This article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Molecules 2012, 17(4), 3858-3865; doi:10.3390/molecules17043858

Article

Synthesis and Characterization of Fullerene Nanowhiskers by Liquid-Liquid Interfacial Precipitation: Influence of C₆₀ Solubility

Marappan Sathish ^1,*  and Kun’ichi Miyazawa ²

¹ Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan ² Fullerene Engineering Group, Materials Processing Unit, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1, Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 12 March 2012; in revised form: 23 March 2012 / Accepted: 26 March 2012 / Published: 29 March 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fullerene Chemistry)

Download PDF Full-Text [575 KB, uploaded 29 March 2012 10:04 CEST]

Abstract: Fullerene nanowhiskers (FNWs) composed of C₆₀ fullerene molecules were prepared using the liquid–liquid interfacial precipitation (LLIP) method in the carbon-disulfide (CS₂) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) system. The electron microscopic images reveal the formation of non-tubular FNWs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern studies indicate the presence of fcc crystalline structure and unusual triclinic structure in the FNWs. The selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED) analysis demonstrates the existence of triclinic and electron beam assisted fcc to tetragonal crystalline phase transformation. The formation of triclinic structure might be validated due to the partial polymerization of FNWs at C₆₀ saturated CS₂-IPA interface. The high solubility of C₆₀ in CS₂ solvent system results in partial polymerization of FNWs. The polymerization of fullerene molecules in the FNWs has been further confirmed using Raman spectroscopy.

Keywords: fullerene nanowhiskers; polymerization; liquid-liquid interface; C₆₀ solubility; fullerene

Article Statistics

Cite This Article