Candle flame nanoparticle insight

Research, involving Professor Wuzong Zhou of the School of Chemistry, using anodic aluminium oxide films as collectors, identified all four well-known carbon forms, diamond, graphitic, fullerenic and amorphous particles, inside a candle flame, suggesting a new nucleation mechanism for diamond growth and fullerene formation in a combustion-synthesizing process. It is estimated that over 1.5 million nanodiamond particles form in a candle flame per second! [full article]