Comprehensive Diagnostics for Bond-Selective Nanocarbon Growth in Plasmas

Abstract

This award was continuation funding for our previously supported efforts into carbon nanoparticle synthesis with tunable bond hybridization, including for luminescent carbon nanoparticles, amorphous carbon nanoparticles, and eventually nanodiamond. Beginning in early 2021 we supported preliminary experiments with in-house funds. In February 2021 our user proposal to the PCRF to investigate this topic was accepted and our experiments at PCRF took place in July 2022. DOE awarded this proposal to support data analysis based on those experiments, and supported the continued efforts towards finalizing that work. With those results and further efforts, we will be able to finalize our early research into nucleation and growth of carbon nanoparticles for a long-term objective of selective bonding in carbon and other nanomaterials grown in low-temperature plasmas. We made several important discoveries.