Nanographene Precursors Forge Uniform Molecular Nanodiamonds for Quantum Tech
Researchers report a bottom-up method to make ultrasmall (3–4 nm), monodisperse molecular nanodiamonds by using hydrogen-terminated molecular nanographenes as confined precursors, which, under high-pressure, high-temperature synthesis, yield highly crystalline nanodiamonds with a single surface reconstruction on a milligram scale. The platform also enables incorporating silicon- and germanium-based color centers (SiV− and GeV−) during synthesis without ion implantation or post-treatment, providing intrinsic control over nanodiamond size and composition for quantum sensing, nanoscale NMR, and related nanoscale devices.