Mechanistic Insights of Seeded Diamond Growth from Molecular Precursors

We report mechanistic insights of the bottom-up synthesis of nanodiamonds (NDs) from adamantane derivatives as molecular precursors. Thermal cracking of tetracosane below the decomposition temperature of adamantane, 1-adamantylamine or 2-azaadamantane revealed the initial steps of seeded diamond growth mechanism based on pyrolysis studies.