Detonation Nanodiamond Powder
Detonation nanodiamond (DND) powder for polymer coatings, paints, electroplated metal coatings, robust catalyst support, battery additives for improved performance, and polishing. DND’s superior hardness and chemical resistance boost mechanical and chemical properties of coatings and paints (scratch resistance, decrease in wear and friction, anticorrosion properties, increased adhesion to substrates).
DND raw powders are as-produced; they have low colloidal stability in DI water without additional treatment. The size notation are provided for a volumetric peak of a major fraction in the products below. The particles are polydispersed and additional larger sizes fractions are also present. They are intended for users experienced with DND.
Functionalized DND is designed to support customers with more specific applications where the interphase between nanodiamonds and a solvent or a matrix in composites plays an important role. Contact us to learn more how to introduce DND into solvents, paints and polymer and metal coatings. Our researchers have extensive experience with fabrication of polymer and metal nanocomposites and we provide service for fee in development of custom nanocomposites.
Technical Characteristics
Raw DND Powders with Positive or Negative Zeta Potentials
DND powders are available in as-produced (“raw”) form with either positive or negative zeta potentials (measured in deionized water at pH ~6-7) are available. The zeta potentials of raw powders is in the range of -20 to +20 mV and they have relatively poor dispersibility in water. Raw DND powders contain incombustible impurities (primarily Iron) of about 2% by mass. Nominal aggregate sizes are about 200 nm (Figures 1-3) with 4-5 nm core particles. Some of their characteristics are shown in Figure 4.
Hydrophobic DND Powders
DND powders functionalized with alkyl chains of various length are available. These powders are designed for dispersibility in organic solvents such as those encountered in polymer composite and coating applications. Figure 6 shows a typical IR spectral of C18 (octadecane) functionalized diamond particles. Table 1 shows solvent compatibility of hydrophobic diamond powders.
Table 1. Solvent miscibility guide for hydrophobic DND powders (green: good; red: poor).
Carboxylated DND Powders
DND powders enriched with carboxylic acid functional groups are available. These powders are additionally purified from incombustible impurities (to <1% by mass) and have a negative zeta potential around -40 mV. These additionally purified powders are well dispersed in water, with nominal aggregate sizes of about 190 nm (Figure 5). Carboxylated DND powders are also available in 30 nm and 60 nm sizes.
Other Functionalities
Additional surface functionalities of DND powders are available on request. These include hydroxylated (-OH) functionalized powders, which are prepared from reduction of carboxylated (-COOH) diamond particles. If you have a specific functionalization need, we can provide customized surface modification as a service for fee. Please contact us to discuss your application.
Working with DND Powders
DND particles exist as tight aggregates of 4-5 nm primary particles. These aggregates can be about 200 nm in size. Most successful applications of DND require uniform dispersion of either these aggregates or the primary particles in solvents or polymer systems. Usually, these powders do not easily resuspend in such system, and require the use of ultrasonics or shear mixing to disperse the powders more effectively. We strongly recommend the use of ultrasonic processors (such as: Ultrasonic Processors) or shear mixers (such as: Laboratory Shear Mixers) when working with DND powders.
Have more questions? Please contact us at info@adamasnano.com to discuss your application