Mechanism of fullerene synthesis in the arc reactor

A mathematical model for the are reactor which takes into account (a) cooling and mixing of carbon vapour with a buffer gas, (b) non-isothermal kinetics of carbon clusters growth and (c) formation of soot particles and heterogeneous reactions at their surface has been developed. The model gives quantitative coincidence of experimental data with calculated values both for the fullerene yield and ratio C-70/C-60 in the products of the are synthesis run under widely varied conditions. Numerical analysis of the model has shown that experimental data obtained for the are synthesis strictly constrain the choice of the mechanism of fullerene formation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.