Fluorescent Nanodiamonds Synthesized in One-Step by Pulsed Laser Ablation of Graphite in Liquid-Nitrogen

Abstract

In this work, we present a relevant upgrade to the technique of pulsed laser ablation of fluorescent nanodiamonds (NDs), relying on an automatized graphite-target movement maintaining a constant level of liquid nitrogen over its surface during hours of deposition. Around 60 mg of NDs nanopowder was synthesized and optomagnetically characterized to assess its optical quality. Chemical purification of the ablated nanopowders, which removes the graphitic byproducts, permits to obtain pure fluorescent NDs with an efficiency of 7 ± 1% with respect to the total nanopowder mass. This value compares positively with the efficiency of other commercial NDs synthesis techniques such as detonation, cavitation, and high pressure–high temperature.

Fluorescent Nanocarbons: From Synthesis and Structure to Cancer Imaging and Therapy

“…Laser ablation and fragmentation of graphite micro‐powder precursors in an aqueous medium is an appealing way to synthesize NDs. [ 178 ] The basic mechanisms behind the laser‐induced method are similar to pulsed‐laser ablation syntheses used to make other nanocarbons. The microcrystalline graphite powder is first immersed in a liquid medium, and a laser‐induced plasma causes the ejection and transformation of carbon nanodroplets into the diamond structure.…”

Advances in Stabilization and Enrichment of Shallow Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers in Diamond for Biosensing and Spin-Polarization Transfer

“…Turning to nanodiamonds [95][96][97], all previous considerations hold, but one also should account for a large heterogeneity in shape (quantified by the aspect ratio) and size (resulting in different surface-to-volume ratios). Several techniques for the production of nanodiamonds have been developed [98], including detonation [99], chemical vapor deposition [100], diamond-anvils-cell synthesis [101], high-power pulsed-laser carbon melting [102,103], and top-down processes such as ball-milling of microdiamonds [104]. Depending on the application, a specific synthesis technique must be chosen as it determines the size, degree of crystallinity, concentration of dopants, and surface purity of the NDs.…”