Mechanochemical Dispersion of Nanodiamond Aggregates in Aqueous Media

A technology of mechanochemical treatment (MCT) is introduced to modify nanodiamond (ND) surface aiming to obtaining a stable suspension with well-dispersed ND particles in aqueous medium. ND investigated in this paper is a purified product of nanometer-sized diamond synthesized by explosive detonation. As obvious aggregation and sediment were observed when the sample was added into deionized water, it is crucial to conduct deaggregation and dispersion investigations. Amid a series of mechanical treatments, i.e. grinding, stirring, ultrasonic and classification, some reagents are introduced to modify the newly created surface during aggregates comminution. For the co-effects of mechanical forces and surfactants, the mean size of particles was reduced and a stable system containing ND with narrow size distribution was prepared. Mechanism of surface reaction and modification are discussed, while AFM, Zetasizer3000HS, XRD, XPS and FTIR are utilized for the analysis. The functional chemical structure of ND p