Enhancing nanodiamond sensors
At a Glance
Section titled āAt a Glanceā| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2019-06-20 |
| Journal | Science |
| Authors | Phil Szuromi |
Abstract
Section titled āAbstractāNanomaterials The fluorescence and spin properties of nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds could make them useful sensors when linked to biomolecules. Although nanodiamonds with diameters of about 5 nanometers can be extracted from the products of closed-chamber detonation of explosives like trinitrotoluene, the number of spin-triplet (negatively charged) NV centers can be too low to ensure that each nanodiamond is active. Terada et al. show that irradiation of detonation nanodiamonds with a sufficient fluence of 2 mega-electron volt electrons can increase the number of negatively charged NV centers by a factor of 4. The irradiation process aggregated the nanodiamonds, but they were redispersed with boiling oxidizing acid.
ACS Nano 10.1021/acsnano.8b09383 (2019).