The article reports combined effects of Ar addition and substrate bias on the grain size, microstructure, and growth rate of the diamond films prepared in microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films with grain size of 50–100 nm, characterized by Raman spectra, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, were produced at 90–99 vol % Ar concentration under −50 V substrate biasing. The growth rate of the NCD films was 0.7–0.8 ${\mathrm{\mu m h}}^{\text{−1}},$ larger apparently than those grown by only Ar addition or by substrate bias effect alone. The NCD formation by various mechanisms is discussed, and a revised ${\mathrm{C}}_2$ insertion mechanism by the promotion of ${\mathrm{H}}^{+}$ ions is proposed to interpret the higher growth rate of the NCD films.

Conventional photocatalysts are primarily stimulated using ultraviolet (UV) light to elicit reactive oxygen species and have wide applications in environmental and energy fields, including self-cleaning surfaces and sterilization. Because UV illumination is hazardous to humans, visible light-responsive photocatalysts (VLRPs) were discovered and are now applied to increase photocatalysis. However, fundamental questions regarding the ability of VLRPs to trigger DNA mutations and the mutation types it elicits remain elusive. Here, through plasmid transformation and β-galactosidase α-complementation analyses, we observed that visible light-responsive platinum-containing titania (TiO₂) nanoparticle (NP)-mediated photocatalysis considerably reduces the number of Escherichia coli transformants. This suggests that such photocatalytic reactions cause DNA damage. DNA sequencing results demonstrated that the DNA damage comprises three mutation types, namely nucleotide insertion, deletion and substitution; this is the first study to report the types of mutations occurring after photocatalysis by TiO₂-VLRPs. Our results may facilitate the development and appropriate use of new-generation TiO₂ NPs for biomedical applications.