「Synthesis, properties, structure and functions of fullerene nanowhiskers」Summary of research result

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The fullerene nanowhiskers discovered by Miyazawa et al. in 2001 can be synthesized from organic solutions of fullerenes and alcohols by using the liquid-liquid interfacial precipitation method. We have successfully synthesized the nanowhiskers of C60, C70 and C60-C70 by using toluene or m-xylene solutions of fullerenes and isopropyl alcohol. This result provides a very important method that can be extended to the synthesis of multicomponent fullerene nanowhiskers. We also showed that the fullerene nanowhiskers can be produced by using unpurified soot, which provides a low-cost synthetic method. We showed that iodine-added C60 whiskers had electrical resistivities much lower than that of undoped C60 nanowhiskers. The molecular distance along the growth axis of C60 whiskers showed almost the same lattice constant by heating in TEM, though the lattice constant perpendicular to the growth axis showed an elongation by the heating. This result indicates that a strong bonding force is operating along the whicker growth axis.The C60 nanowhiskers become insoluble to toluene by heating at temperature higher than 600℃. The C60 nanowhiskers showed a high electrical conductivity by heating at 900℃ and retained the linear morphology. The C60 nanowhiskers heat-treated at 900℃ showed a graphitic Raman spectra with low crystallinity. The C60NWs became tubular structures by heating at 600℃ under rotary pump vacuum. These tubular structures Were named "fullerene shell tubes". The fullerene shell tubes and nanowhiskers have potential applications in the field of fuel cells. Capsular needle-like crystals of C60 were obtained by using a platinum derivative of C60.The C60NWs could be flexibly bent, and also their surface could be grooved by using a SPM silicon tip.