Abstract
There has been a renewed interest in the crystallised form of Buckminsterfiillerene due to advances in crystallisation techniques. In this thesis we demonstrate single-crystal, defect-free, liquid-liquid interfacial-precipitation of rods with hexagonal symmetry and faceted tips. The rods have a lengthrdiameter ratio of approximately 10:1, with diameters typically of the order of ~500 nm. The fullerite properties were characterised using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, ultra-violet/visible/near-inffared absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. This thesis contains a detailed study aimed at controlling the growth of fullerites through the careful manipulation of the experimental process parameters. As advances in understanding of the growth mechanism has been reported the controlled growth of fullerite rods with true nanoscale dimensions was achieved. The growth of fullerite rods with ~50 nm diameter as demonstrated represents an order of magnitude decrease in the scale of structures obtained using the proposed methodology of fullerite synthesis. Furthermore, we have obtained through control of growth parameters other crystalline structures by controlling process parameters to give structures with large area:thickness ratios. Palladium is a metal of significant technological interest due to its well known catalytic effect and affinity to hydrogen. In this thesis palladium is attached to the fullerites via exposure during a fast liquid-liquid interfacial-precipitation (FLLIP) process. A variety of attachment schemes were attempted including that of covalent and Van der Waals bonding and co-crystallization between the Pd and fullerite rods. Each palladium-fullerite is investigated for its potential as a heterogeneous catalyst for hydrogenation of 1-ethynyl-1-cyclohexanol, of which 100% product selectivity was found for covalently bonded Pd-fullerites. Furthermore, the covalently bonded Pd-fullerites have been placed in a CVD chamber and used to catalyse the growth of carbon nanotubes.