Electric-Arc Method

Using a modified Kratschmer-Huffman type reactor, metallic nitride fullerene (MNF)
nanomaterials are produced using a plasma electric-arc synthesis.  Figure 1 shows the
reactor used by the Stevenson Research Group at the University of Southern Mississippi
(USM).  In a typical MNF production run, core-drilled graphite rods are packed with a
given metal oxide and vaporized under inert atmospheres of N2 and He.  Along with
nanotubes and fullerenes, MNFs are deposited on chamber walls with amorphous
carbon soot (Figure 2).  Unlike many fullerenes and metallofullerenes, the MNFs are
highly stable, possess high cage symmetries, and are produced in isolable yields.  Figure
3 demonstrates highlighted metals whose trimetallic nitride clusters have been
encapsulated to form MNFs.





    Figure 1.  Electric-Arc
    Nanomaterial
    MNF Reactor
    (Exterior View)       










    Figure 2.  Electric-Arc
    Nanomaterial
    MNF Reactor
    (Interior View)
           MNF Synthesis
Figure 3:  Periodic Table of MNF Metals
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