BRIGE: Scalable Bottom-up Synthesis of Well-defined Diamond Nanowire/Nanotube Arrays

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This Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grant in Engineering (BRIGE) grant provides funding to develop a novel bottom-up nanofabrication method to synthesize semiconducting diamond nanowires. Vertically aligned diamond nanowire arrays will be fabricated with well-defined nanostructures and high aspect ratios by the proposed bottom-up nanofabrication method. The processing parameters will be optimized to control the size and shape of diamond nanowires. Theoretical work will be carried out to achieve a physical understanding of the diamond crystal growth to provide more insights for the nanofabrication process. Synthesized diamond nanowires will be experimentally characterized in order to reveal their structure-property and size-property relationships. Both experimental and theoretical efforts will be implemented to achieve a simple and cost-effective technique for large-scale fabrication of well-defined diamond nanowire arrays.If successful, this research will lead to a novel manufacturing process for diamond nanowires. The technology developed in this work will contribute to wider applications of nanodiamond in various fields, such as chemical sensors, biological assays, optoelectronics, and supercapacitors. In addition, this research will be closely integrated with educational activities to broaden participation of undergraduate and graduate students who are members of minority groups in engineering research so that they may choose an engineering career in the future. Through collaboration with a campus outreach program, the proposed interactive two-day summer workshop will provide K-12 students unique hands-on-experience opportunities on cutting-edge engineering technologies, and stimulate their interests in science and engineering. The results of this project will be integrated into curriculum and broadly disseminated through NSF annual reports, conference presentations, and journal publications.