化学学报 ›› 2023, Vol. 81 ›› Issue (5): 502-510.DOI: 10.6023/A23020026 上一篇    下一篇

研究论文

乙炔热解为富勒烯的分子动力学模拟研究

刘祯钰, 甘利华*()   

  1. 西南大学化学化工学院 重庆 400715
  • 投稿日期:2023-02-09 发布日期:2023-04-24
  • 基金资助:
    项目受国家自然科学基金(51832008)

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Acetylene Pyrolysis into Fullerenes

Zhenyu Liu, Li-Hua Gan()   

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715
  • Received:2023-02-09 Published:2023-04-24
  • Contact: *E-mail: ganlh@swu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(51832008)

通过分子动力学模拟, 探讨了乙炔高温热解制备富勒烯的可能条件. 结果显示, 乙炔裂解可以形成富勒烯. 在裂解过程中, 乙炔热解产生的氢原子和氢分子能起到球磨碳团簇和阻止其尺寸过度增长的作用, 并促使碳笼更趋近于经典富勒烯, 暗示从炔烃制备富勒烯不需要惰性气体的协助, 从而可显著降低富勒烯的生产成本. 模拟显示, 以乙炔为反应物时, 主要有两种途径形成富勒烯. 第一种是碳链→团簇→碳笼, 多发生于低密度条件下; 第二种是碳链→团簇→碳片→碳笼, 多发生于高密度条件下. 在富勒烯形成过程中, 六元环的增长是由碳笼缺陷和键的旋转导致的. 这些结果有助于理解从炔烃热解制备富勒烯的过程, 对开发富勒烯的低成本生产方法具有重要启示意义.

关键词: 乙炔, 热解, 富勒烯, 分子动力学, 形成机理

Acetylene (C2H2) is one of the main intermediate species in the industrial conversion of natural gas to many high-value chemicals. In this work, molecular dynamics simulation was carried out to study the possibility of producing fullerenes by high temperature pyrolysis of acetylene. The effect of atomic and molecular hydrogen, reaction temperature and carbon density were discussed according to the results obtained from reactive force filed molecular dynamics simulation. The results show that C2H2 can form fullerenes at suitable temperature and density. In the early stage, hydrogen in the system is conducive to the aggregation of small carbon clusters and the formation of carbon chains is faster. Interestingly, in the later stage, it is not conducive to further aggregation reaction, but the atomic and molecular hydrogen produced by C2H2 pyrolysis can make the carbon clusters rounder and prevent the excessive growth of the carbon clusters, and can make the carbon cage more similar to classical fullerenes, which suggest that the production of fullerenes from C2H2 does not require the assistance of inert gases, thus significantly reducing the production cost of fullerenes in principle. Two main pathways of fullerenes formation were observed in simulations under different conditions. The first pathway is from carbon chain, cluster to carbon cage, most occurring in low density conditions. The other pathway is from carbon chain, cluster, graphene and carbon cage, most occurring in high density conditions. The growth of six-membered rings during fullerene formation is realized mainly via carbon cage defects and bond rotation, and the general trend is to make the carbon cage closer to the classical fullerene. The preparation of fullerenes by C2H2 pyrolysis is worthy of further study. These results are helpful to understand the process of producing fullerenes from the pyrolysis of C2H2 and have important implications for the development of industrial production methods of fullerenes.

Key words: acetylene, pyrolysis, fullerene, molecular dynamics, formation mechanism