Vertically Aligned Nanowires from Boron-Doped Diamond

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 8; no. 11; pp. 3572 - 3576
• Main Authors: Yang, Nianjun, Uetsuka, Hiroshi, Osawa, Eiji, Nebel, Christoph E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.11.2008
• Subjects: Boron - chemistry; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Diamond - chemistry; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Electronic structure of nanoscale materials : clusters, nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals; Exact sciences and technology; General equipment and techniques; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Materials science; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanowires - chemistry; Nanowires - ultrastructure; Physics; Quantum wires; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; Surface Properties; Chemical sensors; Atomic force microscopy; Electrochemical method; Synthetic diamond; Chemical stability; Doped materials; Surface structure; Polycrystalline diamond; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Reactive ion etching; Electrochemical properties; Electronic structure; Functionalization; Organic molecule; Plasma etching; Surface properties; Boron additions; Nanowires; Biosensors; Bonding; Nanostructured materials
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl801136h

Vertically aligned diamond nanowires with controlled geometrical properties like length and distance between wires were fabricated by use of nanodiamond particles as a hard mask and by use of reactive ion etching. The surface structure, electronic properties, and electrochemical functionalization of diamond nanowires were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) as well as electrochemical techniques. AFM and STM experiments show that diamond nanowire etched for 10 s have wire-typed structures with 3−10 nm in length and with typically 11 nm spacing in between. The electrode active area of diamond nanowires is enhanced by a factor of 2. The functionalization of nanowire tips with nitrophenyl molecules is characterized by STM on clean and on nitrophenyl molecule-modified diamond nanowires. Tip-modified diamond nanowires are promising with respect to biosensor applications where controlled biomolecule bonding is required to improve chemical stability and sensing significantly.