Electrostatic grafting of diamond nanoparticles towards 3D diamond nanostructures

Nanodiamond seeding toward CVD (chemical vapor deposition) synthesis of diamond layers has received growing interest during the last decade. Several methods are now available to disperse highly dense and compact nanodiamond deposits on a substrate, enabling the growth of ultrathin diamond layers with thickness below 70 nm. While these approaches are extremely efficient to deposit nanodiamonds on plane substrates, even on large areas, a limitation still persists for 3D structured substrates. Here, we report on a technique to disperse nanodiamonds on nanometric patterns, allowing the manufacture of diamond nanostructures by a bottom-up approach, such as diamond coated silicon nanodevices or high aspect ratio diamond tips. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.