Observation and control of blinking nitrogen-vacancy centres in ...

LETTERSNATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2010.56a b 0.05cR Bohr R Bohr0.3R Bohr R Bohr0.040.2Structural disorder, Δd (Å)0.030.020.010.00−0.01−0.02−0.03−0.04Electronic disorder, ΔE LUMO (eV)0.10.0−0.1−0.2−0.3−0.4−0.5−0.05−1.0 −0.8−0.6−0.4−0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0Distance from centre, r/R−0.6−1.0 −0.8−0.6−0.4−0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0Distance from centre, r/RFigure 4 | Theoretical characterization of the structural and electronic disorder. a, Nanodiamond model, with all NV sites shown simultaneously (blue).b, Site-dependent change in the average C–N bond length (Dd). c, Site-dependent change in the energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital(DE LUMO ). Closed symbols denote NV centres located within a Bohr excitonic radius from surfaces/edges/corners (where the surface/edge/corner is at 1 or21 with respect to the centrosymmetric atom at the origin), where atoms with mixed hybridization reside, and open symbols indicate NV centres locatedbeyond the excitonic radius from surfaces/edges/corners (that is, within the core, where atoms are entirely sp 3 -hybridized).together with the data-fitting curves, which display exponentialtrends in both the ‘on’ and ‘off’ cases.We now discuss blinking mechanisms in the context of otherwell-studied systems. Passivated quantum dots and single moleculesin polymer matrices are examples of trap-abundant quantumsystems that show blinking. It has been shown that removingtraps from the passivated quantum-dot surface suppresses blinking23 . In general, excitation/emission is mediated by an exciton,(that is, charge separation, where the electron determines thekinetics of this process by virtue of its higher mobility). It is thecapture of this electron by (surface) traps that inhibits excitonrecombination (switching the emitter to the ‘off’ state) where thetrap-abundant matrix disorder promotes this capture 23 . Theoptical excitation/emission process in an NV centre is also mediatedby an exciton. However, the NV defect-associated exciton is bound,or localized at the NV site, within the Bohr radius (,1 nm), unlikethe case for quantum dots, where an exciton is essentially delocalized.In the case of NVs in ≏5-nm detonation nanodiamonds,the blinking may therefore be a manifestation of the local crystaldisorder. An NV centre is situated in a ≏5-nm crystal comprisinga crystalline diamond core sized 2–3 nm and a mixed sp 2 –sp 3hybridization shell of quasi-spherical shape 27 distorted by thelarge proportion of surface dangling bonds (≏20% of total carbonatoms) 28 , dislocations 29 and impurities. The outer shell has beenfound to regain some sp 3 hybridization by surface passivation, forexample, with oxygen-containing moieties 28,30 , as in the presentstudy. Owing to the proximity of the NV centre to the nanodiamondsurface, it is also a possibility that surface functional groups and/oradsorbed species may also be a source of traps causing blinking.To assess the degree of disorder in a typical nanodiamond, wecarried out a series of density functional tight binding (DFTB) simulationson a model truncated octahedral structure, with all surfacesfully passivated with hydrogen atoms (C 837 H 252 ). NV defects wereindividually inserted into over 50 unique lattice sites within the particle,as shown in Fig. 4a and described in the SupplementaryInformation. A number of parameters were used to assess the localcrystal disorder at these sites, including the change in the averageC–N bond length (Dd), as shown in Fig. 4b. When sufficient disorderis present, there will be a shift in the electronic states, so the change inthe energy of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (DE LUMO )wasalso considered, as shown in Fig. 4c. In these and other cases (seeSupplementary Information), the disorder is extreme when the siteis within the excitonic radius (R Bohr ) from the surfaces, edges andcorners (closed symbols), and NV centres within the core of theparticle (where disorder is absent or insignificant) are the onlycentres that are likely to be optically active (open symbols in Fig.4b,c). More details on the theoretical modelling are available in theSupplementary Information.It is important to note that when these 5-nm diamonds werecombined into aggregates and/or embedded in a polymer PVAfilm, electronic discontinuity at the interface was altered, and theindividual NV-centre luminescence temporal behaviour wasrestored to a continuous luminescence signal, with no exceptions(Fig. 3a). This result reproduced previous reports on NV luminescencein nanodiamonds 4,5,12,14 . However, in free space, discrete5-nm nanodiamonds containing an NV centre revealed a new luminescenceintermittency pattern, for which the effect of the nanodiamondsurface state (as in the aggregated or polymer-embeddedstate) warrants further study.This insight into the properties of NV centres in discrete nanodiamonds,as reported here, may affect a range of applications in thephysical and life sciences. The presence or absence of blinking innanodiamonds provides information about the local and surroundingenvironment of the hosted NV centre, which could find use in avariety of quantum or biosensing technologies. For example, harnessingthe environmental sensitivity of blinking may enable theoptical detection of changes in the surface functionalization of ananodiamond probe.MethodsDetonation diamond nanocrystals (as received, Diamond Technologies andMaterials) with an average size of 5 nm, as measured by dynamic light scattering(not shown), were used for the experiments. The diamonds were processed usingstrong acid reflux and ultrasonication 31,32 , as outlined below.The preparation of the nanodiamonds included a number of previously reportedmethods 31,32 , and was modified for optimal deagglomeration. It is worth mentioningthat thermal oxidation can yield disperse sub-10-nm nanodiamond crystals on laceycarbon, as reported previously 28 . Nanodiamonds were mixed with sulphuric acid(98%, 9 ml) and nitric acid (70%, 1 ml) and then refluxed for 3 days at 70 8C. Themixture was centrifuged and ultrasonicated, then refluxed again with a fresh acidmixture. Nanodiamonds were washed with Milli-Q w then refluxed with NaOH(0.1 M, 8 ml; 1 h, 90 8C), washed, then refluxed with HCl (0.1 M, 8 ml). Thenanodiamond–acid mixture was washed with Milli-Q w and ultrasonicated (1 h).The sample was diluted by addition of Milli-Q (≏20 ml) and ultracentrifuged (1 h,100,000g). This procedure was repeated three times, and the resulting supernatantcontaining individual diamond grains was used for these experiments.Nanodiamonds were either dropped onto a glass coverslip and left to dry, or spincoated.The compositions of the treated and untreated diamond were assessed byRaman spectroscopy (see Supplementary Information), showing a dramatic decreasein the graphitic compared with diamond content of the sample.To embed nanodiamonds in a PVA film, they were mixed, in differentproportions, with a 0.25% solution of PVA in de-ionized water. Two different4NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY | ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION | www.nature.com/naturenanotechnology© 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.