High-resolution electron microscopy studies of non-graphitizing carbons

Abstract High-resolution electron microscopy is used to study the structure of two typical non-graphitizing carbons before and after heat treatment at temperatures in the range 2100–2600°C. It is found that these heat treatments can result in the formation of closed carbon nanoparticles, which are apparently fullerene-like in structure. This suggests that fullerene-like elements were present in the original carbons and leads us to propose a new model for the structure of non-graphitizing carbons.