Nanocomposites and nanomaterials

Carbon nanospheres: synthesis and structure

Rud A.D.1, Polunkin E.V.2, Boguslavskii L.Z.3, Vinnichenko D.P.3,
Kuskova N.I.3, Kirian I.M.1, Kornienko N.E.4, Pilyavsky V.S.2, Haidai O.O.2  

1G.V. Kurdyumov Institute for Metal Physics of N.A.S. of Ukraine,
36 Academician Vernadsky Blvd., Kyiv 03142, Ukraine
E-mail: rud@imp.kiev.ua
2V.P. Kukhar Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Petrochemistry of N.A.S. of Ukraine, 1 Murmanska str., Kyiv 02094, Ukraine
 3Institute of Pulse Research and Engineering of N.A.S. of Ukraine,
 43A Bogoyavlenskiy Str., Mykolaiv 54018, Ukraine
4Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 60 Volodymyrska Str.,
 Kyiv 01033, Ukraine

Electric discharge technologies (electric breakdown of organic liquids and high-frequency electric volume discharge in gaseous hydrocarbons) are elaborated for a large scale synthesis of carbon nanospheres (CNS) [1]. A destruction of hydrocarbon molecules into separate fragments occurs during such processing of organic media, what results in CNS formation in the process of ultra-fast cooling of the clusters. To investigate the influence of chemical nature of working media, organic liquids and gases from the class of arenes with sp2-hybridisation of carbon atoms in molecule and alkanes with sp3-hybridisation were used. Performed XRD, HRTEM and Raman studies showed that produced powders are typical amorphous materials with significant degree of disorder. But only in the case of electric breakdown of alkanes, carbon nanomaterials with developed surface (SBET=150 g/cm3) and complex core-shell structure were discovered. Individual particles of onion-like carbon consist of ~ 5 nm core surrounded by graphitic shell of 5-6 layers. Synthesized CNS are used as antifriction additives to industrial oils and fuels [2].
1.	Rud A.D., Kuskova N.I., Ivaschuk L.I., Zelinskaya G.M. and Biliy N.M. Structure state of carbon nanomaterials produced by high-energy electric discharge techniques // Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures. - 2011. -19, Is. 1-2. -P. 120-126.
2.	Haidai О., Pilyavski V., Shelud’ko Y., Polunkin Y. Improvement of Performance Characteristics of Ethanol Motor Fuels Through Use of Additives Based on Nanoscale Carbon Clusters // EUREKA. Physical Sciences and Engineering. - 2016. -6. -P. 3-10.