Production of Energetic Nanodiamond via Atmospheric Plasma Surface Treatment

This work describes a new approach conducted at US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (ARL) for producing energetic nanodiamond via atmospheric helium plasma surface treatment of commercial detonation nanodiamond (DND) in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactors. An originally “bad” DND previously determined to have high levels of graphitic carbons and contaminants transformed into a “good” DND with stable diamond characteristics as good as best-available commercial DND. Post-plasma-treatment, the “bad” DND was found to have reduced d-spacing for each diamond diffraction plane [(111), (220), (311)], identical to a high quality DND – with significantly reduced numbers of graphitic shells, leading to increased energy release at the microsecond timescale via the laser-induced air shock for energetic materials (LASEM) technique. Transmission electron micrographs also revealed more distinct diamond core, indicating successful removal of impurities by plasmas. This paper provides a new alternative for producing energetic DND while simultaneously underscoring the importance of recognizing not only the benefits, but also the challenges of applying plasma techniques to novel material production.