Counting vacancies and nitrogen-vacancy centers in detonation nanodiamond

Journal article

Detonation nanodiamond particles (DND) contain highly-stable nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) centers, making it important for quantum-optical and biotechnology applications. However, due to the small particle size, the N-V concentrations are believed to be intrinsically very low, spawning efforts to understand the formation of N-V centers and vacancies, and increase their concentration. Here we show that vacancies in DND can be detected and quantified using simulation-aided electron energy loss spectroscopy. Despite the small particle size, we find that vacancies exist at concentrations of about 1 at%. Based on this experimental finding, we use ab initio calculations to predict that about one fifth of vacancies in DND form N-V centers. The ability to directly detect and quantify vacancies in DND, and predict the corresponding N-V formation probability, has a significant impact to those emerging technologies where higher concentrations and better dispersion of N-V centres are critically required.

Authors: Chang, S; Barnard, A; Dwyer, C; Boothroyd, C; Hocking, R

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 20
• Pages: 10548-10552
• Publication date: 2016-01-01
• Acceptance date: 2016-04-21
• DOI: 10.1039/c6nr01888b
• EISSN: 2040-3372
• ISSN: 2040-3364
• Language: English