Size-reduction of nanodiamonds via air oxidation

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 10.6 nm/h at 600 °C 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 formation of colour centres in small crystals. In these unirradiated samples, the smallest nanodiamond still hosting a stable nitrogen-vacancy centre observed was 8 nm.

arXiv comment13 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Scalable quantum register based on coupled electron spins in a room temperature solid
• Chemical control of the charge state of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
• Surface-induced charge state conversion of nitrogen-vacancy defects in nanodiamonds
• Prediction and measurement of the size-dependent stability of fluorescence in diamond over the entire nanoscale