Size-controlled fluorescent nanodiamonds: a facile method of fabrication and color-center counting

We present a facile method for the production of fluorescent diamond nanocrystals (DNCs) of different sizes and efficiently quantify the concentration of emitting defect color centers (DCCs) of each DNC size. We prepared the DNCs by ball-milling commercially available micrometer-sized synthetic (hig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanoscale 2013-12, Vol.5 (23), p.11776-11782
Main Authors: Mahfouz, Remi, Floyd, Daniel L, Peng, Wei, Choy, Jennifer T, Loncar, Marko, Bakr, Osman M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Color centers
Crystal defects
Crystals
Diamonds
Nanocomposites
Nanocrystals
Nanomaterials
Nanostructure
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Summary:We present a facile method for the production of fluorescent diamond nanocrystals (DNCs) of different sizes and efficiently quantify the concentration of emitting defect color centers (DCCs) of each DNC size. We prepared the DNCs by ball-milling commercially available micrometer-sized synthetic (high pressure, high temperature (HPHT)) diamonds and then separated the as-produced DNCs by density gradient ultracentrifugation (DGU) into size-controlled fractions. A protocol to enhance the uniformity of the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in the diamonds was devised by depositing the DNCs as a dense monolayer on amino-silanized silicon substrates and then subjecting the monolayer to He + beam irradiation. Using a standard confocal setup, we analyzed the average number of NV centers per crystal, and obtained a quantitative relationship between the DNC particle size and the NV number per crystal. This relationship was in good agreement with results from previous studies that used more elaborate setups. Our findings suggest that nanocrystal size separation by DGU may be used to control the number of defects per nanocrystal. The efficient approaches described herein to control and quantify DCCs are valuable to researchers as they explore applications for color centers and new strategies to create them. A scheme to prepare nitrogen-vacancy defect-containing nanodiamonds in size-controlled fractions and to quantify their defect concentrations is presented. Size-selection provides a means to control the number of defects per nanodiamond.
ISSN:2040-3364
2040-3372
DOI:10.1039/c3nr03320a