Water Adsorption Property of Hierarchically Nanoporous Detonation Nanodiamonds

The detonation nanodiamonds form the aggregate having interparticle voids, giving a marked hygroscopic property. As the relationship between pore structure and water adsorption of aggregated nanodiamonds is not well understood yet, adsorption isotherms of N₂ at 77 K and of water vapor at 298 K of the well-characterized aggregated nanodiamonds were measured. HR-TEM and X-ray diffraction showed that the nanodiamonds were highly crystalline and their average crystallite size was 4.5 nm. The presence of the graphitic layers on the nanodiamond particle surface was confirmed by the EELS examination. The pore size distribution analysis showed that nanodiamonds had a few ultramicropores with predominant mesopores of 4.5 nm in average size. The water vapor adsorption isotherm of IUPAC Type V indicates the hydrophobicity of the nanodiamond aggregates, with the presence of hydrophilic sites. Then the hygroscopic nature of nanodiamonds should be associated with the surface functionalities of the graphitic shell and the ultramicropores on the mesopore walls.