Analytical Sciences

Improved Spectrophotometric Analysis of Fullerenes C₆₀ and C₇₀ in High-solubility Organic Solvents

Alexander TÖRPE and Daniel J. BELTON

Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, UK

Fullerenes are among a number of recently discovered carbon allotropes that exhibit unique and versatile properties. The analysis of these materials is of great importance and interest. We present previously unreported spectroscopic data for C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerenes in high-solubility solvents, including error bounds, so as to allow reliable colorimetric analysis of these materials. The Beer–Lambert–Bouguer law is found to be valid at all wavelengths. The measured data were highly reproducible, and yielded high-precision molar absorbance coefficients for C₆₀ and C₇₀ in o-xylene and o-dichlorobenzene, which both exhibit a high solubility for these fullerenes, and offer the prospect of improved extraction efficiency. A photometric method for a C₆₀/C₇₀ mixture analysis was validated with standard mixtures, and subsequently improved for real samples by correcting for light scattering, using a power-law fit. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of C₆₀/C₇₀ mixtures extracted from fullerene soot.

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