Thermallens spectrometer for studying thermophysical properties of fullerenes

Abstract

A thermal-lens spectrometer implementing back-synchronized detection technique with a mode-mismatched optical scheme was constructed. Steady-state and transient signals of thermal-lens spectrometry are used to characterize concentration parameters of aqueous fullerene dispersions (AFDs) at the level of 10 −7 -10 −5 M and to assess thermophysical properties of AFDs. The detection limits of fullerenes in AFDs are 100 nM for C 60 , 80 nM for C 70 and C 78 -C 88 , and 60 nM for Y@C 82 , which are 20-fold lower than for spectrophotometry. Suitable precision of measurements of thermal diffusivity and thermal effusivity for AFDs is shown.