Synthesis of porous single-crystal diamond with boron doping under high temperature and high pressure

Abstract

In this paper, porous single-crystal diamond with boron doping were synthesized by adding TiB2 to the Fe–Ni–C system at a pressure of 5.6 GPa and a temperature of 1360 °C. The boron and nitrogen impurities were investigated in depth along with the surface defects of the diamonds. The results indicate that when the TiB2 content was within the range of 0–10 wt%, an increase in the doping concentration of TiB2 can lead to a decrease in the nitrogen content and an increase in the boron content in the diamond, causing the crystal color to transition from yellow to pale yellow, pale yellow-blue, and black. When the TiB2 content was within the range of 20–40 wt%, several triangular concave porous structures appeared on the crystal surface. With an increase in the TiB2 addition, the side length of these triangular pits decreased from 2.85 μm to 1.09 μm, while their depth decreased from 590 nm to 50 nm. The roughness of the crystal surface measured by Rq demonstrated values up to 145.302 nm. The results indicate that the size, depth, and density of the triangular defects can be adjusted by the amount of additive TiB2. Our findings provide insights into the surface regulation and functionalization of boron-doped diamond single crystals.