Synthesis of Nanodiamonds in Kerosene

This article considers the possibilities of organizing an arc discharge between graphite electrodes in kerosene with argon supply to the discharge area as applied to the synthesis of carbon nanostructures. The presence of argon was dictated by the conditions of maintaining a low-current discharge in a liquid medium with low viscosity. It is shown that an argon–hydrocarbon arc discharge in kerosene can serve as an effective tool for synthesizing nanodiamonds. The synthesized nanostructures look like a chain of figures that are approximately identical in shape and size. Moreover, these chains are not interrupted anywhere, making up a kind of crystal of nanodiamonds. This may be due to the entry of a particle into a liquid, from the other end of which a new particle begins to form. The synthesized nanodiamonds have sizes from 40 to 100 nm and are built into a linear row one after another. The most interesting thing about these results is that in the immediate vicinity there are no other nanostructures except nanodiamonds, which may be due to the presence of hydrogen, which reacts with unbound carbon atoms and removes them from the discharge area.