Patent ID: 8882970

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing carbon nanohorns, the apparatus comprising: a production chamber configured to irradiate a solid carbon material with a laser beam in an atmosphere of inert gas to produce a product comprising: carbon nanohorns; a graphite component; and an amorphous component; and a separation mechanism configured to separate said carbon nanohorns from said graphite component and said amorphous component, wherein said separation mechanism includes: a collection chamber configured to be connected to said production chamber through a transfer pipe such that said product is introduced by using said inert gas into said collection chamber from said production chamber through the transfer pipe, a trapping mechanism configured to be provided at an upper portion of said collection chamber, a collection mechanism configured to be provided at a lower portion of said collection chamber, and an exhaust port configured to be provided above a collection chamber side outlet of said transfer pipe, wherein said trapping mechanism includes: a cone-shaped filter configured to be provided between said collection chamber side outlet and said exhaust port and to be inside said collection chamber, the cone-shaped filter being arranged in a direction where a vertex of a cone of said cone-shaped filter is upward, wherein said collection mechanism includes: a collection port configured to be provided at a bottom wall portion of said collection chamber, wherein said collection chamber is connected to said production chamber such that said inert gas spirally moves up in said collection chamber, wherein said inert gas including said product flows into an inside of said cone-shaped filter in a direction eccentric from a centerline of said cone, and spirally flows from a bottom of said cone-shaped filter to a top of said cone-shaped filter through the inside of said cone-shaped filter, wherein said trapping mechanism traps said graphite component and said amorphous component moving up with said inert gas in said collection chamber, wherein said collection mechanism collects said carbon nanohorns spirally moving up with said inert gas, said carbon nanohorns being aggregated and dropped in said collection chamber, and wherein said separation mechanism separates said carbon nanohorns from said graphite component and said amorphous component based on a traveled distance of said carbon nanohorns against a gravitational force.