Selective growth of silver particles on the facets of synthetic diamond

Abstract

We have shown for the first time that simple annealing of silver-synthetic diamond mixtures in air or oxygen at 600-700 °C leads to selective growth of silver particles on the {100} facets of diamond, while no growth is observed on the {111} facets. Annealing at a temperature higher than 750 °C results in significant morphological changes in the heterostructure: silver particles grow not only on the cube but also on the octahedral facets.