Quasi homoepitaxial growth of modified diamond: Nickel-substrate catalytic multilayer graphene transforming to diamond

Abstract Defects can be generated when growing diamond on heterogeneous substrates. The problem dampers the widespread use of diamond films. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed which grows diamond on graphene quasi-homogeneous epitaxial substrate. Results showed that high quality diamond was synthesized on a quasi homoepitaxial graphene substrate through sp2-sp3 hybridization and covalent bond transformation. Firstly, D peak-free graphene was synthesized on nickel metal surface. C–H and C C bonds were then exploited to produce dehydrogenation and coupling reaction which caused the transform of graphene to transform into diamond. In virtue of the superior intermiscibility and catalysis of nickel to carbon, few-layer graphene grew efficiently on nickel foil surface. An internal space microstructure network of carbon atoms was produced through different non-covalent interactions. At last, graphene is converted into diamond. This process can also be used to synthesize hydrophilic porous diamond film. It is a promising approach to the development of new graphene/diamond-based components in the future.