Submicrosecond Aggregation during Detonation Synthesis of Nanodiamond

• Published in: The journal of physical chemistry letters 2021-06, Vol.12 (22), p.5286-5293
• Main Authors: Hammons, Joshua A, Nielsen, Michael H, Bagge-Hansen, Michael, Bastea, Sorin, May, Chadd, Shaw, William L, Martin, Aiden, Li, Yuelin, Sinclair, Nicholas, Lauderbach, Lisa M, Hodgin, Ralph L, Orlikowski, Daniel A, Fried, Laurence E, Willey, Trevor M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aggregation; Carbon condensation; Composition B; Detonation; DNTF; High-explosive; INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Materials science, Physics - Condensed matter physics, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Chemistry - Chemical explosives; Nanodiamond; Octol; Physical Insights into Chemistry, Catalysis, and Interfaces; Small angle scattering; UFTATB
• ISSN: 1948-7185; 1948-7185
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01209

Detonation nanodiamond (DND) is known to form aggregates that significantly reduce their unique nanoscale properties and require postprocessing to separate. How and when DND aggregates is an important question that has not been answered experimentally and could provide the foundation for approaches to limit aggregation. To answer this question, time-resolved small-angle X-ray scattering was performed during the detonation of high-explosives that are expected to condense particulates in the diamond, graphite, and liquid regions of the carbon phase diagram. DND aggregation into low fractal dimension structures could be observed as early as 0.1 μs, along with a separate scattering population also observed from an explosive that produces primarily graphitic products. A counterexample is the case of a high-explosive that produces nano-onions, where no hierarchical scattering was observed for at least 10 μs behind the detonation front. These results suggest that DND aggregation occurs on time scales comparable to particle formation.