Boron doped fullerene C60 (B:C60) films were prepared by the thermal evaporation of C60 powder using argon plasma treatment. The morphology and structural characteristics of the thin films were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and x-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical application of the boron doped fullerene film as a coating layer for silicon anodes in lithium ion batteries was also investigated. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were applied to the B:C60 coated silicon electrodes at a scan rate of 0.05 mVs-1. The CV results show that the B:C60 coating layer act as a passivation layer with respect to the insertion and extraction of lithium ions into the silicon film electrode.

Plasma carbon blacks of 20~30 nm diameter were synthesized by direct decomposition of natural gas using a hybrid plasma torch system with 50 kW direct current and 4 MHz of radio frequency. The insulating rector which inside diameter of 400 mm and length of 1500 mm, respectively was kept at 300~400℃ during the preparation. The ultimate analysis of plasma carbon blacks reveals that the raw plasma carbon blacks contains a large quantity of volatile which is mainly consist of hydrogen. Therefore devolatilization of raw plasma carbon blacks were carried out at 900℃ for one hour under nitrogen atmosphere. The devolatilization leads to the decrease in electrical resistivity and surface oxygen functional groups of plasma carbon black significantly. In order to investigate the plasma carbon as a catalyst support, devolatilized plasma black at 900℃ (DPB) supported PtAu catalyst was synthesized by sodium boronhydride reduction method. Electrochemical measurements and direct formic acid fuel cell test indicated that catalytic activity of DPB supported PtAu catalyst for formic acid oxidation was similar to that of Vulcan XC-72 of commercial carbon black supported one.

The polymer with contents of C60 up to 57 wt.% was produced by mutual condensation of fullerene C60 and ethylenediamine. The investigations of this polymer as well as pristine fullerene to comparison were carried out by FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy, ToF-SIMS, TGA, and elemental analysis. At least three kinds of components was revealed as building blocks of polymer. The fullerene cage underwent only distortion but didn't destroy during formation of polymer. The pure fullerene was found as an intermediate of the thermal decomposition of polymer. The conclusion that this polymer could serve as precursor to produce carbon nanomaterial with high concentration curved graphene sheets and can be used for gas adsorption and electrochemical application was made.

Four kinds of plasma blacks were prepared by plasma pyrolysis under various metallic catalysts coated on honeycomb, and investigated the catalytic effect on the characteristics of the plasma blacks prepared under plasma pyrolysis condition. Pt, Pt-Rh, and Pd catalysts were employed as active materials to prepare the plasma blacks. In the experimental range studied, the metallic catalysts influenced on surface area, particle size, surface oxygen content and electrical conductivity of the plasma blacks prepared. It was showed that more dense particle of plasma blacks were prepared under existence of metallic catalysts. Presence of the metallic catalyst reduces the electrical resistivity of plasma blacks due to the decrease in the amount of oxygen functional groups. The highest electrical conductivity of plasma black was observed in the Pt catalyst and then followed by those Pt-Rh, Pd and bare cordierite honeycomb.

The electrochemical behavior of the LiCoO2 electrode, containing carbon black as a conductor, depends upon the nature and characteristics of carbon black. In this study, six different kinds of carbon blacks were employed to investigate the relationship between the properties of carbon blacks and electrochemical characteristics of the electrode. The larger amount of surface oxygen functional groups brought the lower electrical conductivity for the carbon blacks. The electrical conductivity of carbon blacks was closely related to the impurities such as ash and volatile content. The rate capability and cyclability of the electrode were improved with the higher conductivity of carbon blacks used. So, it can be concluded that high conductive carbon black plays an important role as a conductor for high rate of charge-discharge capability and initial efficiency.

Lithium intercalated carbon (LIC) are basically employed as an anode for currently commercialized lithium secondary batteries. However, there are still strong interests in modifying carbon surface of active materials of the anode because the amount of irreversible capacity, charge-discharge capacity and high rate capability are largely determined by the surface conditions of the carbon. In this study, the carbonaceous materials were coated with tin oxide and copper by fluidized-bed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and their coating effects on electrochemical characteristics were investigated. The electrode which coated with tin oxides gave the higher capacity than that of raw material. Their capacity decreased with the progress of cycling possibly due to severe volume changes. However, the cyclability was improved by coating with copper on the surface of the tin oxides coated carbonaceous materials, which plays an important role as an inactive matrix buffering volume changes. An impedance on passivation film was decreased as tin oxides contents and it resulted in the higher capacity.