Nanostructure effects upon soot oxidation

Soots possessing different nanostructures were produced by pyrolysis of acetylene, benzene, or ethanol. These soots still in aerosol form were introduced into the post flame gases produced by a lean, premixed flame supported on a sintered metal burner. A dependence of the soot particle nanostructure upon synthesis conditions, i.e., temperature, time, and initial fuel identity, was observed. Such structural variations in the graphene layer plane dimensions necessarily altered the ratio of basal plane vs. edge site carbon atoms. Curvature of layer planes, as observed for an ethanol derived soot, substantially increased oxidative reactivity. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 230th ACS National Meeting (Washington, DC 8/28/2005-9/1/2005).