ИСТИНА

Nanodiamonds have become available due to the improvements in detonation synthesis. It allows preparation of larger amounts of detonation nanodiamond (DND), at reduced cost. DND is chemically and mechanically stable, resistant to high pressures and temperatures, biocompatible and possesses good thermal conductivity along with semiconductor properties. Therefore, DND is considered a promising alternative for other materials lacking these properties. The structure of DND has been reasonably well described as consisting of ~4-5 nm particles, comprising diamond core and thin layer of sp2 or fullerene-like carbon. However, DND is tend to form aggregates in aqueous suspensions, while exact structure and shape of such aggregates has not yet been experimentally proved. Recently, the use of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) for the investigation of DND aggregation in suspensions was reported [1-3]. It was found that DND self-assembles into fractal structures with the dimensions of 2.3 < D < 2.5 However, due to the limited data obtained for narrow range of scattering angles (q), the investigation of structural features below 30 – 40 nm was complicated. Therefore, no proper shape-dependent model has been presented for DND aggregates yet. In this work the combined data of SANS, ultra SANS (USANS) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) are used to cover an extended q-range and clarify the structure of single digit detonation nanodiamond (SDND) aggregates in aqueous suspensions. The shape-dependent modelling was applied to elaborate the physical properties of such aggregates