9360591 Jiang While the recent discovery of fullerene carbon has led to intense research activity and many proposed applications, most of the work to date has focused on C60, and to a lesser extent, CC0. The higher fullerenes (C76, C78, C84, etc.) which may have significantly different and useful properties, have not been evaluated because they are difficult to obtain in purified form. In this project, TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) will develop improved routes to the higher fullerenes and investigate their potential applications. In Phase I, we will optimize our combustion synthesis process (developed with NSF support in previous SBIR project) for the production of higher fullerenes. We will purify the higher fullerenes by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). To minimize the cost of higher fullerenes in future applications, TDA had identified several different separation methods which do not involve chromatography. Using the pure materials from chromatography, we will measure fundamental properties of the higher fullerenes which are relevant to our proposed separation methods. We will carry out an engineering and market analysis to determine the most desirable future applications of the higher fullerenes. Because TDA is already a manufacturer of combustion derived fullerenes we will be able to immediately commercialize the technology for producing and separating the higher fullerenes. ***
