Diamond at the nanoscale: applications of diamond nanoparticles from cellular biomarkers to quantum computing

Although nanocrystalline diamond powders have been produced in industrial quantities, mainly by detonation synthesis, for many decades their use in applications other than traditional polishing and grinding have been limited, until recently. This paper presents the wide-ranging applications of nanodiamond particles to date and discusses future research directions in this field. Owing to the recent commercial availability of these powders and the present interest in nanotechnology, one can predict a huge increase in research with these materials in the very near future. However, to fully exploit these materials, fundamental as well as applied research is required to understand the transition between bulk and surface properties as the size of particles decreases.