A Multitechnique Study of Fluorinated Nanodiamonds for Low-Energy Neutron Physics Applications

Data of quasi-specular reflection of cold neutrons, prompt-γ neutron analysis, X-ray Raman scattering (XRS), and neutron pair distribution function (PDF) analysis with powder of detonation nanodiamonds are analyzed to collect their structural properties and chemical composition. Both as-synthesized and purified samples were studied using fluorination samples. Removal of both the sp2 amorphous carbon shell and the hydrogen atoms is evidenced respectively by the change of neutron-nuclei optical potentials of nanoparticles and the increase of their neutron reflectivity. Moreover, sp3 diamond cores of nanoparticles stay intact during the fluorination as revealed by similar scattering patterns, PDF, and XRS data. Quasi-specular reflection, PDF, and XRS data are complementary for the study of nanomaterials and in good agreement with conventional characterization techniques (infrared spectroscopy and solid-state NMR).