Remarkable Improvement in Efficiency of Filtration Method for Fullerene Purification

Abstract

Filtration of fullerene extract through thin layer of powdered activated carbon fiber was reported as a very practical process for fullerene purification. In order to make it more efficient, the conditions of the filtration were further investigated. As a result, 1,2,4‐trimethylbenzene with high fullerene solubility was found to be employed as solvent to give pure C₆₀ and C₇₀ in moderarte to excellent yields, reducing a volume of solvent, an amount of activated carbon and a time for purification. The efficiency of the improved filtration method presented here is considered to be comparable to or even better than that of the previous methods.

Keywords:

• Fullerenes
• filtration
• activated carbon
• purification

Acknowledgment

A part of this work was supported by a grant‐in‐aid for Research for Young Researchers from Kyoto University‐Venture Business Laboratory (KU‐VBL). We thank Horiba Co. (Kyoto, Japan) for analyzing particle size distribution of powdered ACF. NK thanks Professors Kazumi Matsushige (Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University) and Atsuhiro Osuka (Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University) for their encouragement.