The project of our team "Investigation of new approaches for synthesizing nanodiamonds with pressureless mechanisms" was supported by the Russian Science Foundation!»
Nanometer-sized diamond particles, or nanodiamonds, have attracted the attention of various researchers due to their unique properties, which are promising in the various fields of industry, quantum computing, biological and environmental applications. Unlike other carbon nanostructures, nanodiamonds can be scaled from nearly 0D to 3D particles with varying surface functionalization, which allows their physicochemical characteristics to be controlled over a wide range. The availability of efficient methods for the synthesis of nanodiamonds is a critical challenge for their widespread application. Currently, nanodiamonds are mainly obtained by detonation or grinding of macroscopic diamond. These standard methods share the common disadvantages of poor control of nanodiamond size, shape and degree of contamination. However, there are other methods to produce a diamond phase from sp²-hybridized carbon, such as by irradiating graphene with ions or by a chemically induced phase transition. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying these approaches are still insufficiently studied. For example, the appearance of nanodiamonds in multilayer graphene after irradiation with high-energy ions at first glance contradicts thermodynamic estimates. Therefore, a detailed study of the conditions and mechanisms of such photoinduced phase transformation using modern methods of computer modeling is a new and urgent task. Other important objectives of the project are to study the formation of nanometer-sized diamond clusters as a result of chemically induced phase transition, as well as the controlled growth of nanodiamonds using 2D diamond as a substrate. This process may allow the formation of a defect-free diamond structure with a predetermined surface. On the other hand, the planned research in the project is also aimed at studying the possibility of controlled introduction of defects into diamond necessary for the realization of single-photon emission and the application of such nanostructures in quantum computers and other fields.
The project PI is Dr. Sergey Erohin.