A novel technique for the synthesis of nanodiamond powder

Abstract

We developed a novel technique to synthesize nanodiamond powder through the decomposition of graphitic C3N4 under high pressure and high temperature. The nanodiamond obtained by the present method is in an extremely pure form with no sp2 carbon contaminations. Individual nanodiamond grains are very uniform in size and virtually monodispersed single crystals. The grain size can be controlled from less than 1 nm to several hundred nanometers by adjusting the heating temperature (and also potentially by controlling pressure) used for the synthesis. The present product requires neither post-surface treatment to remove outer shell made of sp2 carbons nor deglomeration and size classification unlike the case for nanodiamond obtained by the conventional TNT detonation method. © 2013 Leiming Fang et al.