The accidental discovery of nature derivative fullerenes developed from DPG

Any research on the fullerenes was by definition novel [Handbook of Carbon, Graphite, Diamond, and Fullerenes: Properties, Processing, and Applications, Noyes Publications, 1993, p. 364; Acta Cryst. A 50 (1994) 344]. In this work, a new type of high graphitization graphite was manufactured with the natural dispersion of fullerenes on it in an intuitional feeling. The artificial graphites named DPG (dissolution precipitation graphite) were made from new manufacturing process of nodular cast iron by adding ferroboron and amorphous carbon at 1500–1600 °C. When the operation temperature was cooled to 1300 °C, then the DPG particles were precipitated on the melting iron. The particles were scooped up and ground finely into smaller ones. These powders were successively washed with HCl. However, the microstructures of this high graphitization artificial graphite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and its XRD data were refined with the Rietveld method to identify its exact degree of graphitization. By the way, XRD peaks in the profile of fullerenes had also been discovered on 2θ=8.9° and 13°. We also found that the DPG artificial graphite is a high degree of graphitization kind of graphite. The C–C bonding conditions were characterized by Raman spectra. The peak of 1331 cm−1 of DPG artificial graphite was sharp and weak than original carbon material. In the Asp2 and Asp3 ratio, the DPG-CH was the highest than the others. It also proved indirectly that the fullerenes were formed in the DPG-CH.