Comparison of the chemical composition of boron-doped diamond surfaces upon different oxidation processes

In spite of the high stability of polycrystalline diamond, oxidation of the hydrogenated surface is relatively easy to perform. This results in the introduction of ether (C–O–C), carbonyl (CO) and hydroxyl (C–OH) groups on the surface. For further surface functionalization, it is important to quantify the presence of each group on the diamond surface when different oxidation processes are used. In this paper, we investigate the composition of oxidized boron-doped diamond surfaces using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) when electrochemical, photochemical or oxygen plasma methods were employed to introduce oxygen functionalities on as-deposited diamond interfaces. Cyclic voltammetry and C–V measurements were additionally performed to identify more clearly the formation of C–OH, C–O–C and/or CO functions.