Synthesis and Characterization of New “BCN” Diamond under High Pressure and High Temperature Conditions

• Published in: Crystal growth & design Vol. 11; no. 4; pp. 1006 - 1014
• Main Authors: Liu, Xiaobing, Jia, Xiaopeng, Zhang, Zhuangfei, Zhao, Ming, Guo, Wei, Huang, Guofeng, Ma, Hong-an
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington,DC American Chemical Society 06.04.2011
• Subjects: Chemistry; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Equations of state, phase equilibria, and phase transitions; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; General, apparatus; High-pressure and shock-wave effects in solids and liquids; Mechanical and acoustical properties of condensed matter; Physics; Solid-solid transitions; Specific phase transitions; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography; Structure of specific crystalline solids; Surface physical chemistry; High-pressure effects; Diamond shape; Cubic lattices; Raman spectra; Fourier transform spectroscopy; Catalysts; Crystallization; Diamonds; Doped materials; Boron nitride; Iron; XRD; Boron Carbonitrides; High pressure high temperature method; Morphology; Phase separation; Boron additions; Chemical composition; Nickel; X-ray photoelectron spectra; Crystal structure
• ISSN: 1528-7483; 1528-7505
• DOI: 10.1021/cg100945n

In this paper, the graphitic mixtures of C and BN have been subjected to high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) conditions to study the crystallization of the cubic phase, and new diamond crystals doped with B and N atoms (BC x N) were successfully synthesized with iron and nickel as catalysts. The morphology and characterization of our obtained diamond changed significantly, which was attributed to the incorporation of the B and N atoms into the crystal structure. In addition, we detected that the cubic phases obtained in the C0.9(BN)0.1 system were separated because of the different B/N ratio, while in the C0.5(BN)0.5 system no phase separation was found and the obtained “BCN” diamond exhibited cuboctahedral shape, light yellow in color, and nearly transparent. According to our results, two possible reaction routes were introduced for the crystallization of diamond in the graphitic mixtures of C and BN. Moreover, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to confirm their chemical composition and atomic-level hybrid qualities. Our results show that new B−C−N compounds can be synthesized by doping B and N atoms in diamond crystals under HPHT conditions, and it may become a new effective method in the future study of the preparation of cubic B−C−N alloys.