Low temperature catalytic reactivity of nanodiamond in molecular hydrogen

In this paper, the reaction dynamics of hydrogen termination of nanodiamond annealed at low temperature (500 °C) in molecular hydrogen atmosphere is reported. In-situ residual gas analysis of nanodiamond particles (4-5 nm) during annealing/hydrogenation indicates C3-radical desorption which incites a free radical reaction through the reduction of molecular hydrogen to atomic hydrogen. Consequently, as released atomic hydrogen facilitates CH adsorption on the surface of nanodiamond which was confirmed using infrared spectroscopy. This explains how nanodiamond particles can play a key role in hydrogen (H2) dissociation and be terminated by the hydrogen (H) at relatively low temperature.

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