Water interaction with hydrogenated and oxidized detonation nanodiamonds — Microscopic and spectroscopic analyses

Water interaction with surface modified nanodiamonds (NDs) is critical for many possible applications of NDs e.g. in biomedicine. Here we report on investigation of water interaction with hydrogenated and oxidized detonation nanodiamonds (H-DNDs, O-DNDs) by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal analysis, and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). Higher water content (4.4%) as well as weaker interaction of water with H-DNDs are identified by thermal analysis. It is explained by hydrophobicity of the H-DND surface, as revealed by the analysis of bending and stretching vibrations of surface water in FTIR spectra. On the other hand, hydrophilic nature of O-DNDs leads to lower water content (3.1%) but stronger interaction with the O-DND surface. This is evidenced by as high as 300 °C desorption temperature of the surface water from O-DNDs. KPFM analysis shows that the surface-bound water can have significant screening effect on contact potential difference (CPD) of nanodiamonds (up to 510 mV) as well as on the CPD difference between H-DNDs and O-DNDs (from 50 mV to 210 mV). Nevertheless, H-DNDs exhibit always lower work function.