Diamond nanoparticles with more surface functional groups obtained using carbon nanotubes as sources

High pressure high temperature catalytic method was used to prepare diamonds using carbon nanotubes or graphite as starting materials. It was found that the O-containing functional groups on diamonds' surface from carbon nanotubes (7.34%) are 1.27 times of those from graphite (5.8%), which was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy. A small-angle x-ray scattering technique detected that the surface functional groups can combine with biochemicals. This result revealed that the as-prepared diamond might have promising application in drug delivery. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.