Synthesis and characterization of porphyrin functionalized nanodiamonds

We report on a novel synthetic pathway for the chemical functionalization of nanodiamonds with porphyrin. To this scope, the NDs, after a thermal treatment essential to organize the crystal surface, were derivatized with reactive moieties useful to conjugate the ND with porphyrin. Untreated and modified nanoparticles were systematically characterized by X-ray photoelectron, Raman, photoluminescence and infrared spectroscopies with the purpose of evaluating the effects due to the crystals manipulation and confirming the efficacy of the proposed approach. An investigation of the effects induced to the samples by laser irradiation (probe for Raman and PL spectroscopies) was performed, highlighting the significant increase of temperature that is associated to the redshift of Raman diamond peak.