Magnetic resonance study of novel detonation nanodiamonds originated from non-conventional explosives

Detonation nanodiamonds (DNDs) are conventionally synthesized from a mixture of trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexogen (RDX) explosives. It is generally believed that the internal structure of DNDs, which consists of a diamond core covered with a partially disordered shell, is very similar in all DNDs. Variations of the properties of DNDs are usually associated with the surface functionalization with various chemicals to obtain a family of different nanodiamonds. In this paper, we report on the synthesis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study of novel DNDs synthesized from a few non-conventional explosives, which have not previously been used for this purpose. We show that DNDs synthesized from different explosive precursors display different ratios of carbon atoms in the core and shell. The variation of this ratio correlates well with variations in the content of paramagnetic defects and ¹³C nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rates. The presented data advances new opportunities for controllable synthesis of DNDs with engineered properties.