Influence of high temperature treatments on fullerene soot and formation of multi-shell carbon nanoparticles filled with LaC

Yamamoto, Kazunori; Wakahara, Takatsugu*; Akasaka, Takeshi*

There has been great interest in the incorporation of foreign materials into fullerenes, nanotubes, and fullerene-like multi-shell cage structures such as polyhedral nanocapsules. Polyhedral nanocapsules containing La element were not found in the fullerene soot, which were discovered in carbonaceous cathode deposits in 1993 formed by arc-discharge evaporation and following deposition of La with carbon on the cathode surface. In this study, multi-shell single-digit nanoparticles filled with La have been found in La fullerene arc soot synthesized at 35 Torr He. Furthermore, the soot materials have been treated at temperatures between 1000 and 2200C in vacuum. The single-digit nanoparticles have been transformed into larger multi-shell nanocapsules filled with LaC.