Study of Nanoscale Photopolymerized Fullerene Clusters in Solution Droplets Using an Ultrasonic Nebulizer Unit

In a designed and developed ultrasonic nebulizer system for obtaining macroscopic-quantity photopolymerized fullerene (C₆₀) clusters, a C₆₀ solution was vaporized to several micro-sized droplets in vacuum, resulting in the formation of C₆₀ aggregates by evaporating the solvent (toluene). The system was invented to produce nanoscale photopolymerized carbon clusters through the irradiation of ultraviolet (UV) light on the C₆₀ aggregates in vacuum. The products, photopolymerized C₆₀ clusters obtained from the system using UV-visible (UV-Vis) absorption and high-performance (or high-pressure) liquid chromatography (HPLC) spectra, were characterized. Compared with the non-irradiating C₆₀ solution, the UV-Vis absorption spectrum of the irradiated C₆₀ solution was drastically decreased, especially at λ = 335 nm and in the visible region from λ = 450∼650 nm. As such, the UV-Vis absorption spectra provide information about the polymerization of C₆₀ molecules. These photopolymerized C₆₀ clusters can be detected as having a heavy molecular mass order through the HPLC system, and the C₆₀ and photopolymerized C₆₀ cluster can be extracted from the trapped solution on the molecular mass. Although there is a possibility that the products include various forms of C₆₀ clusters, the results suggest that the products obtained from the system using a vaporizer establish a new method of obtaining macroscopic-quantity C₆₀ clusters.