Over the past decade, carbon nanomaterials (fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene) have gained increasing interest in both science and industry. Another class of carbon nanomaterials that has slowly been gaining renewed interest is diamond molecules, so-called diamondoids. Derivatives of diamondoids are used in pharmaceutics, but due to their high thermal stability and well-defined structures, diamondoids could also serve as molecular building blocks for use in future nanodevices.
This book is the first of its kind to give an exhaustive overview of the structures, properties, and current and possible future applications of diamondoids. The first part introduces the structures of diamondoids and gives an overview of their principal chemical and physical properties and a brief historical account, from the discovery of the first diamondoid member, adamantane, to the isolation of higher diamondiods about a decade ago. Then current synthesis approaches and challenges in obtaining diamondoids in higher quantities are shown. Finally, approaches to generating plasmas in high-pressure and supercritical media and their advantages and shortcomings compared to conventional methods are described.
About the Editors:
Sven Stauss received an engineering diploma in Materials Science from the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne (EPFL) in 2000. After an internship at the R&D Center of Toshiba in Japan from 2000 to 2001, he pursued a PhD in Materials Science at the EPFL and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa). After his graduation in 2005, he joined the group of Prof. Terashima in the Department of Advanced Materials Science at the University of Tokyo, where he is currently assistant professor. His current research focuses on cryoplasmas and plasmas in supercritical fluids, and their application to materials processing.
Kazuo Terashima received the M.E. and PhD in Metallurgy and Materials Sciences from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1984 and 1988. He is now Professor of the Department of Advanced Materials Science at the University of Tokyo. From 1993-1995, he stayed at University of Basel, Switzerland, as a guest Professor. His major interest is Plasma Materials Science. Currently, his main research focuses on microplasmas and their application to exotic plasmas, such as supercritical fluid plasmas and cryoplasmas.
