Characterization of diamond surface terminations using electrochemical grafting with diazonium salts

A new characterization technique to identify qualitatively diamond surface terminations and to measure quantitatively the density of hydrogen atoms bonded to the diamond surface is introduced using electrochemical grafting of diamond with diazonium salts. The cathodic peak potentials for the grafting of nitrophenyl layers reveal qualitative information about surface terminations ranging from –H, to –OH to –O–. The charges consumed during the conversion of nitro- to aminophenyl are used to calculate quantitatively the density of hydrogen atoms bonded to the diamond surface. As hydrogen is generally very difficult to detect by other methods like X-ray Photon Spectroscopy, this new method will add significantly to the understanding of surface related properties of transducers.