Physicochemical study of the nanodiamond surface

Abstract

Suspensions of five types of ultrafine diamond of a detonation synthesis in distilled water and 0.9 mol/l NaCl solution were found to have pHs in the range of 3–6, which results from the intrinsic acidity of their surfaces. The possibility of quantitatively determining the protogenic groups of a surface is found using the pH-potentiometric method. The data on the kinetics of the varying pH of suspensions in water and 0.9 mol/l NaCl solution and the data on the curves of the alkali titration of the suspensions of nanodiamond in the indicated systems make it possible to infer the presence of one or two types of acid groups on the surface of a diamond. The constants of dissociation (pK ₁) of these groups on the assumption of their single-base nature are estimated. From 1 × 10⁻³−5 × 10⁻² mol/l chloride solutions of H[AuCl₄] and RhCl₃ on the surface of diamond, gold(III) and rhodium(III) are found to be adsorbed; the adsorption of methylene blue from its 2.5 × 10⁻⁴−5 × 10⁻⁴ mol/l solutions reaches more than 90% (upon adsorption from 5 ml of the initial solution by a 0.05-g nanodiamond).