Gas storage in fullerenes

Fullerenes and in particular C-60 have been shown to store effectively a wi de range of gases from simple monatomic rare gases to diatomics and polyato mics. A review of the research in this area conducted at ANSTO is given. Th e trapping of Ar, Kr, Xe, and CO2 are discussed in detail whilst preliminar y results pertaining to N2O, CH4, CF4, C2H6 and SF6 are also reported. A ra nge of techniques have been used to elucidate both the structure of the new fullerene intercalated solid and the trapped gas itself. The preponderant techniques used, include infra-red absorption spectroscopy (IR), X-ray powd er diffraction a (XRD), neutron powder diffraction (NRD), transmission elec tron microscopy (TEM), and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA).