Growth of diamond crystals in Fe-Ni metallic catalysis

Both the nucleation and growth processes take place simultaneously during the synthesis of diamond crystals from metal solutions. In the present study, the nucleation process is suppressed by using an array of seeds to start with. The free energy difference for the nucleation and the growth of diamond crystals in metallic solutions is estimated independently. The growth kinetics of diamond crystals in Fe-Ni alloy exhibits a parabolic growth rate relationship. Comparing with the conventional self-nucleation (unseeded) process, the size variation of the diamond crystals prepared by using the arrayed seeds is smaller; and the quality of the diamonds crystals is better. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.