SLOW AGGREGATION OF BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE (C60) IN BENZENE SOLUTION

Solution behavior of buckminsterfullerene (C60) in benzene was investi gated by laser light scattering using an incident wavelength of 790 nm . C60 was found to aggregate slowly even in fairly dilute solution con centrations ranging from 1.39 to 2.11 mg/ml at room temperatures (23-2 6-degrees-C). The aggregation of C60 in benzene solution was reversibl e. The C60 aggregates could be dispersed simply by hand shaking the so lution. The light-scattering intensity results indicated that the stru cture of C60 aggregates could be described as a fractal with dimension of 2.10 and the aggregation kinetics exhibited essentially an exponen tial behavior.