US Patent 7754177 - Carbon nanoballoon

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7754177.html

Fullerene molecules such as single walled carbon nanotubes and C60 are formed of carbon atoms bonded to enclose a hollow space. This patent teaches a method of fabricating a carbon nanostructure which increases the volume of the hollow space relative to other fullerene nanostructures which may improve properties related to hydrogen storage and light absorption.

1. A method of producing a carbon nanoballoon structure having a hollow portion, comprising the step of

heating carbon black having a specific surface area of at least 1000 m2/g and a primary particle diameter of at least 20 nm to a temperature of at least 2000° C. in an inert gas atmosphere.

US Patent 7648765 - Carbon nanoparticle dispersion

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Nanodiamonds have a high refractive index and transparency making them useful for optical applications and also possess a high hardness making them useful for mechanical polishing. This patent from Futaba Corporation teaches a way to create a dispersion of nanodiamonds in an organic solvent. Claim 1 reads:

1. A dispersion of carbon nanoparticles, prepared by monodispersing carbon nanoparticles in water droplets of a reverse micelle solution in which the water droplets are coated with amphiphilic molecules and dispersed in an organic solvent, wherein a monodispersion function material is added to the reverse micelle solution, and the monodispersion function material is an electrolyte.