Nanowires carved out of ultrananocrystalline diamond

Posted by Fiona Griffiths

Scientists have made a discovery to improve the functionality of ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) thin films which could potential improvements to the fabrication of biosensors.

The team from Argonne National Laboratory's (ANL) Center for Nanoscale Materials, carved nanowires out of UNCD thin films, a material that has highly desirable abilities to alter its electrical properties when the chemical bonding between grain boundaries is modified.

"It's a highly attractive carbon-based material with a wide range of applications in communications, medicine, and defence," said Anirudha Sumant, a materials scientist at ANL and the leader of the study.

"We've demonstrated a pathway to fabricate UNCD nanowires, with widths as small as 30 nanometers at a thickness of 40 nanometers," he added.

The team found that UNCD nanowires are extremely sensitive to the adsorption of gas molecules at the grain boundaries which opens up new possibilities for potential uses.

At the moment, it thought that the nanowires will be used in biosensors or in bio or pressure sensors.