An amorphous hydrocarbon diamond-like polymer as a precursor for diamond growth

A diamond-like polymer, poly(phenylcarbyne), was synthesized by reductive condensation of alpha,alpha,alpha -tricholorotoluene monomer with an ultrasonically-generated NaK alloy emulsion in tetrahydrofuran under an inert atmosphere. The polymer consists of a randomly constructed rigid network of tetrahedral polycarbyne units in which each carbyne carbon forms three C-C bonds to the network and one to a substituent structure of the polymer, which was analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray photospectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The polymer is easily soluble in organic solvents to form a solution which can be applied to various substrates and forms films with a large area. By a simple heat-treatment process, this amorphous polymer can transform into diamond crystals at relatively low temperature (600 degreesC), and the structure of the diamond crystals was confirmed by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The correlation of thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA), FTIR and Raman spectra of polymers provides important information on the process of phase transformation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.