Fractal C60 fullerene aggregation: equilibrium thermodynamics approach

Abstract Using dynamic light scattering (DLS) data we showed that the main physico-chemical parameters characterizing C60 fullerene aggregation in solution, viz. equilibrium aggregation constant and fractal number, may be obtained from equilibrium thermodynamics approach. We implemented the standard isodesmic model of aggregation for approximation of experimental particle size distribution and obtained the magnitude of fractal number, df, previously known from other physico-chemical methods. We propose that the suggested DLS-based approach may be applied as a method of analysis of fractal aggregation of other types of nanoparticles, such as silver, gold, or nanodiamonds, alternative to standard spectroscopic (SAXS/SANS/SLS) methods.