Location of paramagnetic defects in detonation nanodiamond from proton spin-lattice relaxation data

Abstract

We developed an approach for determining location of intrinsic paramagnetic defects in nanodiamonds from the data of proton spin-lattice relaxation of the surface hydrogen atoms. The approach was applied to the detonation nanodiamond (DND) of the diameter of 5 nm. We found that dangling bonds with unpaired electron spins are located within the near-surface belt at the distance of 0.3–0.9 nm from the DND surface. The NMR data are compared with the results of EPR measurements.