Ordered Diamond Nanowire Growth on Mesoporous Silica Oxides Using Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition - A Feasibility Study

The concept of growing ordered diamond nanowires using HFCVD is investigated in this research. Modified mesoporous silicas are synthesized as possible substrates for diamond nanowire growth and their structures are examined using nitrogen porosimmetry. HFCVD is used initially to grow diamond coatings on silicon wafer before the novel use of the technique to attempt the first growth of ordered diamond nanowires using mesoporous silica as a template. The findings of this research show the conditions for growth of diamond using the CVD technique may be, however, outside of the conditions within which the mesoporous silicas are very stable. At a temperature that shows good deposition on flat substrates the results suggest, with a decrease in overall mass of the sample, that there may be a breakdown of the porous structure of the silicas.