Intersting question - it is being explored...
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Solar Production of Fullerenes
This is a potentially interesting application of ultrahigh solar flux.
If Carbon-60 and other types of buckyballs can be produced efficiently
using sunlight, the potential cost of making these exotic materials
may be greatly reduced.
This experiment is ongoing and is taking place at the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) High-Flux Solar Furnace
(HFSF)--or NRELHFSF for short. Results are very preliminary and have
shown that we can vaporize graphite at atmospheric pressure using a
unique concentrator.
The best production requires a partial vacuum around 100 Torr and we
are setting up this system currently. When some results come in,
pictures and more information will be added here.
The secondary concentrator we have designed places a flux of 25,000
suns onto the top of a cylindrical target. This system should allow
mass production in that the cylinder can be pushed through the high
flux region causing a continuous vaporization of graphite. Although,
the process of making Carbon-60 is not understood fully, it is known
that carbon vapor reacts to form soccer ball structure with up to 15 %
efficiency with optimal external conditions. These relate to buffer
gas type and pressure. Our experiment uses a gas flow to sweep away
the soot produced and keeps our optics clean. This additional
parameter may help us better understand the production process.
http://hep.uchicago.edu/solar/fullerene.html
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Regards,
MiniM |
