STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS OF AQUEOUS COLLOIDAL DISPERSIONS OF FULLERENE C60

Two types of fullerene C60 water dispersions were investigated by a small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering. As a result, structural parameters of fullerene aggregates were obtained. The water dispersions were obtained by the solvent-exchange technique and by huge dilution of initial C60/Nmethylpyrrolidone solution. The structure organization of water dispersions is considered in respect to their technique preparation. It was shown that fullerene aggregates were characterized by highly polydispersity in size for all dispersions. In the case of son/nC60 dispersion it was found that fullerenes formed aggregates with a dense nucleus (namely a surface fractal) with a radius of 58 ± 1 nm and a fractal dimension of 2.3. In turn, the nmp/nC60 system was characterized by the branched aggregates with fractal dimension 1.5 and bimodal particle size distribution.