Lightly Boron-Doped Nanodiamonds for Quantum Sensing Applications.

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Quantum Sensing
• Biomedical Applications

Background:

• Standard nanodiamonds (NDs) have limitations for localized heating.
• Boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) show potential for hyperthermia and thermoablation therapy using NIR lasers.
• The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color center in diamond is a sensitive quantum sensor.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the temperature sensing capability of NV centers in lightly boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs).
• To evaluate the stability of the NV charge state in BNDs under laser excitation.
• To assess the potential of BNDs as dual-function bio-probes for therapy and sensing.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing lightly boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) containing NV color centers.
• Exciting BNDs with an 800 nm near-infrared (NIR) laser.
• Optically sensing temperature changes within the biological temperature range.

Main Results:

• NV centers in BNDs can optically sense small temperature changes.
• The BNDs demonstrated a temperature sensitivity of 250 mK/√Hz.
• The NV charge state stability in BNDs was investigated despite theoretical expectations.

Conclusions:

• Boron-doped nanodiamonds (BNDs) with NV centers are effective optical thermometers.
• BNDs exhibit high sensitivity suitable for biological temperature sensing.
• BNDs show promise as dual-function bio-probes for hyperthermia/thermoablation and quantum sensing.