In this paper, the controlled production of high quality metal-free diamond nanoparticles is demonstrated. Milling with tempered steel is shown to leave behind iron oxide contamination which is difficult to remove. Milling with SiN alleviates this issue but generates more non diamond carbon. Thus the choice of milling materials is critically determined by the acceptable contaminants in the ultimate application. The removal of metal impurities, present in all commercially available nanoparticles, will open new possibilities towards the production of customised diamond nanoparticles, covering the most demanding quantum applications.
@article{arxiv.1808.06425,
title = {Production of Metal-free Diamond Nanoparticles},
author = {Laia Ginés and Soumen Mandal and David John Morgan and Ryan Lewis and Phil Davies and Paola Borri and Gavin Morley and Oliver A. Williams},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.06425},
year = {2018}
}