Wenjun Zhang1
City Univ of Hong Kong1
The outstanding properties of diamond make it an excellent material for various applications. It is known that the potential applications of materials depend not only on their intrinsic properties, but also on the surface geometries in which they appear. The extreme properties of diamond, however, make it difficult to be structured to a desired geometry. This presentation will review the recent progress in the nano-/micro-structuring techniques of diamond films, in particular a simple and applicable method developed by us to nanostructure diamond (ranging from microcrystalline to nanocrystalline) surfaces using bias-assisted reactive ion etching (RIE) in hydrogen/argon plasmas. Various diamond nanocone/nanopillar/ nanowhisker (nanowire) arrays with high uniformity and tunable density have been achieved by using this method. The effects of initial film structure, surface roughness, and RIE conditions on the size, density, and geometry of nanostructures are revealed. Surface nanostructuring of diamond films is demonstrated to be an effective approach to extend and/or enhance the properties of diamond with respect to its bulk and film counterparts. Example applications of the diamond nanostructures in field electron emission electrode, in situ probing and drug delivery at the cell level, and electrocatalysis are also discussed.