Structure of soot in premixed flames as inferred by HR-TEM and UV-visible spectroscopy

Spectroscopic and microscopic features of soot generated from premixed sooting flames of aliphatic and aromatic fuels were analyzed in the soot inception region and in the zone of the completeness of soot formation process where mature soot is formed. A description of soot properties in terms of morphology, aromaticity and internal structure was obtained by means of a detailed Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and chemical and spectroscopic analysis. The differences in the morphological structures of benzene and ethylene soot allowed to infer a correlation with the evolution of optical properties of soot.