Production of fullerenes and single-wall carbon nanotubes by high-temperature pulsed arc discharge

Fullerenes and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been produced for the first time by the high-temperature pulsed arc-discharge technique, which has developed in this laboratory. Fullerenes are identified quantitatively by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations reveal a significant amount of production of bundles of SWNTs in soot. The pulse arc production of fullerenes and SWNTs favors the high-temperature (greater than or equal to 1000 degrees C), long pulses (greater than or equal to 1 ms) and a heavy rare gas such as Ar or Kr as a buffer gas. We have found that fullerenes and SWNTs have complementary relationships in their early stage of production. The details of the pulsed arc discharge have been obtained by observing the transition from the pulsed arc discharge to the steady arc discharge while increasing the pulse width. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(00)71113-5].