The Nobel Prize is nice but commercial value is important too. In order to protect an investment in research and development companies, universities and governments patent their inventions and discoveries. A list of early patents on fullerenes is below:
5,227,038 - Electric arc process for making fullerenes
5,300,203 - Process for making fullerenes by the laser evaporation of carbon
5,393,955 - Preparation of fullerenes and apparatus therefor
5,487,831 - Recognition and separation of carbon clusters
5,493,094 - Preparation of fullerenes and apparatus therefor
5,494,558 - Production of fullerenes by sputtering
5,510,098 - CVD method of producing and doping fullerenes
5,538,763 - Method of preparing carbon cluster film having electrical conductivity
The technology stepping stone to the formation of fullerenes is the deposition of diamond coatings Nano Precursors
4,767,608 -Method for synthesizing diamond by using plasma
4,915,977 -Method of forming a diamond film