Size-reduction of nanodiamonds via air oxidation Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Here we report the size reduction and effects on nitrogen-vacancy centres in nanodiamonds by air oxidation using a combined atomic force and confocal microscope. The average height reduction of individual crystals, as measured by atomic force microscopy, was 10 1 nm/h at 600 C, 4 1 nm/h at 550 C, and less than 1 nm/h at 500 C from air oxidation at atmospheric pressure. The oxidation process modified the surface including removal of non-diamond carbon and organic material which also led to a decrease in background fluorescence. During the course of the nanodiamond size reduction, we observed the annihilation of nitrogen-vacancy centres which provided important insight into the behaviour of colour centres in small crystals. In these unirradiated samples, the smallest nanodiamond still hosting a stable nitrogen-vacancy centre observed was 8 nm. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

published proceedings

  • DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS

altmetric score

  • 0.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Gaebel, T., Bradac, C., Chen, J., Say, J. M., Brown, L., Hemmer, P., & Rabeau, J. R.

citation count

  • 81

complete list of authors

  • Gaebel, T||Bradac, C||Chen, J||Say, JM||Brown, L||Hemmer, P||Rabeau, JR

publication date

  • January 2012