Surface Chemistry of Diamond

Abstract

The diamond material possesses very attractive properties, such as superior electronic properties (when doped), in addition to a controllable surface termination. During the process of diamond synthesis, the resulting chemical properties will mainly depend on the adsorbed species. These species will have the ability to influence both the chemical and electronic properties of diamond. All resulting (and interesting) properties of a terminated diamond surface, make it clear that surface termination is very important for especially those applications in which diamond can function as an electrode material. Theoretical modeling has during the last decades been proven to become highly valuable in the explanation and prediction of experimental results. Simulation of the dependence of various factors influencing the surface reactivity, will aid important information about surface processes including surface stability, modification and functionalization. Other examples include thin film growth mechanisms and surface electrochemistry. IntroductionThe diamond material possesses very attractive properties, such as high transparency, high thermal conductivity at room temperature, radiation hardness, as well as an extreme mechanical hardness. In addition, diamond also exhibits superior electronic properties (including high carrier mobility), large electrochemical potential window, low dielectric constant, controllable surface termination, and a high breakdown voltage. Furthermore, when considering the well-known combination of chemical inertness and high degree of biocompatibility [1], diamond became recently a promising candidate for applications like artificial photosynthetic

Influence of surface composition on the colloidal stability of ultra-small detonation nanodiamonds in biological media

“…4,26 The surface energies of these facets vary, and therefore their termination is energetically favoured by several and different surface groups. 41 This leads to inhomogeneous surface chemical profiles of DNDs, as we observed for the positive DNDs. Naturally, the functionalisation with one type of chemical group onto the DND surface can improve surface homogeneity as observed for negative DNDs.…”

“…However, achieving a perfect uniform coverage of the surface by the same or similar charged chemical groups is energetically difficult to achieve due to morphological distortions on the surface of these ultra-small particles. 26,41 Functionalisation of DNDs with biomolecules like BSA, can therefore be used to mask such surface inhomogeneities and also provide for a uniform polymer-like coating of a uniform charge, thereby improving the stability of ultra-small DNDs in complex solutions, such as PBS. While our BSA-conjugated particles are stable for up to 1 week at 4 o C, long-term stability can also be achieved through cost-effective strategies including freeze-drying in the presence of cryoprotectants such as sugars.…”