What is Fluorescent Nanodiamond?

What is Fluorescent Nanodiamond?

The fluoresence of nanodiamond particles is based on color centers incorporated into the diamond lattice. Nitrogen-vacancy centers (N-V) provide red fluorescence and N-V-N (or H3 centers) emit green light. The remarkable property of the color centers in diamond is that they don’t photobleach or photoblink, as compared to quantum dots or organic dyes. In combination with ND’s outstanding biocompatibility, large surface area, and facile surface functionalization, fluorescent NDs (FND) are considered as a new generation of bioimaging probes for the study of cellular dynamics at the single molecular level. Large numbers of N-V centers per particle is desirable for these applications to provide high brightness.

N-V centers in ND posses unique spin properties that render their applications as single photon emitters or ultrasensitive nanoscale magnetometers. For these applications, one N-V center per particle is desirable. NV centers in ND need to be produced. In our approach, NDs manufactured by static high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) synthesis and containing about 100 ppm of substitutional N, are irradiated with 2-3MeV electrons and annealed. Other approaches for production of fluorescent NDs are under development in our laboratory.