Vertically aligned conducting ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) nanorods are fabricated using the reactive ion etching method incorporated with nanodiamond particles as mask. High electrical conductivity of 275 Ω·cm⁻¹ is obtained for UNCD nanorods. The microplasma cavities using UNCD nanorods as cathode show enhanced plasma illumination characteristics of low threshold field of 0.21 V/μm with plasma current density of 7.06 mA/cm² at an applied field of 0.35 V/μm. Such superior electrical properties of UNCD nanorods with high aspect ratio potentially make a significant impact on the diamond-based microplasma display technology.

Boron doped diamond (BDD) has great potential in electrical, and electrochemical sensing applications. The growth parameters, substrates, and synthesis method play a vital role in the preparation of semiconducting BDD to metallic BDD. Doping of other elements along with boron (B) into diamond demonstrated improved efficacy of B doping and exceptional properties. In the present study, B and nitrogen (N) co-doped diamond has been synthesized on single crystalline diamond (SCD) IIa and SCD Ib substrates in a microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition process. The B/N co-doping into CVD diamond has been conducted at constant N flow of N/C ∼ 0.02 with three different B/C doping concentrations of B/C ∼ 2500 ppm, 5000 ppm, 7500 ppm. Atomic force microscopy topography depicted the flat and smooth surface with low surface roughness for low B doping, whereas surface features like hillock structures and un-epitaxial diamond crystals with high surface roughness were observed for high B doping concentrations. KPFM measurements revealed that the work function (4.74–4.94 eV) has not varied significantly for CVD diamond synthesized with different B/C concentrations. Raman spectroscopy measurements described the growth of high-quality diamond and photoluminescence studies revealed the formation of high-density nitrogen-vacancy centers in CVD diamond layers. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results confirmed the successful B doping and the increase in N doping with B doping concentration. The room temperature electrical resistance measurements of CVD diamond layers (B/C ∼ 7500 ppm) have shown the low resistance value ∼9.29 Ω for CVD diamond/SCD IIa, and the resistance value ∼16.55 Ω for CVD diamond/SCD Ib samples.

Nanodiamonds (NDs) are emerging with great potential in biomedical applications like biomarking through fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), targeted drug delivery, and cancer therapy. The magnetic and optical properties of NDs could be tuned by selective doping. Therefore, we report multifunctional manganese-incorporated NDs (Mn-NDs) fabricated by Mn ion implantation. The fluorescent properties of Mn-NDs were tuned by inducing the defects by ion implantation and enhancing the residual nitrogen vacancy density achieved by a two-step annealing process. The cytotoxicity of Mn-NDs was investigated using NCTC clone 929 cells, and the results revealed no cytotoxicity effect. Mn-NDs have demonstrated dual mode contrast enhancement for both T1- and T2-weighted in vitro MR imaging. Furthermore, Mn-NDs have illustrated a significant increase in longitudinal relaxivity (fivefold) and transversal relaxivity (17-fold) compared to the as-received NDs. Mn-NDs are employed to investigate their ability for in vivo MR imaging by intraperitoneal (ip) injection of Mn-NDs into mice with liver tumors. After 2.5 h of ip injection, the enhancement of contrast in T1- and T2-weighted images has been observed via the accumulation of Mn-NDs in liver tumors of mice. Therefore, Mn-NDs have great potential for in vivo imaging by MR imaging in cancer therapy.

Diamond particles have great potential to enhance the mechanical, optical, and thermal properties of diamond–polymer composites. However, the improved properties of diamond–polymer composites depend on the size, dispersibility, and concentration of diamond particles. In the present study, diamond–polymer composites were prepared by adding the microdiamond particles (MDPs) with different concentrations (0.2–1 wt.%) into polymers (acrylate resins) and then subjected to a photocuring process. The surface morphology and topography of the MDPs–polymer composites demonstrated a uniform high-density distribution of MDPs for one wt.% MPDs. Thermogravimetric analysis was employed to investigate the thermal stability of the MDPs–polymer composites. The addition of MDPs has significantly influenced the polymers’ thermal degradation. Absorption and emission spectra of thin layers were recorded through UV/Vis spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry. The obtained results revealed a significant increase in the fluorescence intensity of MDPs–polymer composites (at 1 wt.% of MDPs, a 1.5×, 2×, and 5× increase in fluorescence was observed for MDPs–green, MDPs–amber daylight, and MDPs–red resin, respectively) compared with the reference polymer resins. The obtained results of this work show the new pathways in producing effective and active 3D-printed optical elements.

Silicon-vacancy (SiV) centers were produced in single crystalline diamond (SCD) and ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) nanostructures via Si ion implantation or in situ Si doping. SiV-embedded UNCD (SiV-UNCD) was fabricated by both top-down and bottom-up methods. The spectral properties of the SiV centers, including the zero phonon line (ZPL) width and decay time, were investigated in the SCD and UNCD nanostructures. All the SiV-UNCD nanostructures showed bright emission regardless of the preparation method. However, the decay time of the SiV centers was affected by the synthesis procedure. A SiV decay time of τ ∼ 0.19 ns was observed for UNCD nanostructures formed by in situ doping, whereas the SiV decay time was ∼0.43 ns for SiV-UNCD clusters prepared by Si ion implantation into UNCD deposited on Ti/sapphire substrates. The ultrasonication of UNCD clusters on Ti/sapphire pyramids produced bright SiV-UNCD nanoclusters with sizes of ∼50 nm, a ZPL width of 13.5 nm, and a decay time of 0.35 ns, suggesting promising potential in bioimaging applications. SiV-containing SCD (type Ia or type IIa) showed enhanced SiV spectral properties with a ZPL width of 6.08 nm and longer decay time of 1.3 ns.

Ion implantation is used to create nanodiamonds (NDs) with embedded magnetic ions for use in a wide range of biological and medical applications; however, the effectiveness of this process depends heavily on separating magnetic NDs from nonmagnetic ones. In this study, we use secondary ion mass spectrometry to verify the implantation of magnetic ions in NDs and the success of separation. When applied to a series of NDs with embedded iron or manganese ions, the sorting tool used in this study proved highly effective in selecting magnetic NDs. Besides, multienergy ion implantation and precise thickness control of NDs coating on the silicon wafer were suggested to improve this technology.