New approach for sensitive photothermal detection of C60 and C70 fullerenes on micro-thin-layer chromatographic plates.In this paper the pulse thermovision (photothermal) detection and quantification methods of C60 and C70 fullerenes are presented.  Target components were separated under isothermal conditions (30 °C) on micro-TLC plates (RP18WF254S) using n-hexane as the mobile phase.  Contrary to the commonly applied optical reflection or transmission techniques the proposed thermovision method involves dissipated light.  However, it has been found that thermovision method was characterized by smaller value of LOD, particularly for C60 molecule.  Moreover, the thermal contrast images and particularly, computed correlation image, allow detection of stationary phase layer nonuniformities, including changes in the adsorbent thickness and thermal conductivity.  Therefore, invented pulsed thermovision methodology can be additionally used for fast quality screening of home made and commercially available TLC plates.
THERM