  Doping effect of diamond nanoparticles on the superconducting properties of
MgB2 bulk material has been studied. It is found that the superconducting
transition temperature Tc of MgB2 is suppressed by the diamond-doping, however,
the irreversibility field Hirr and the critical current density Jc are
systematically enhanced. Microstructural analysis shows that the diamond-doped
MgB2 superconductor consists of tightly-packed MgB2 nano-grains (~50-100 nm)
with highly-dispersed and uniformly-distributed diamond nanoparticles (~10-20
nm) inside the grains. High density of dislocations and diamond nanoparticles
may take the responsibility for the enhanced flux pinning in the diamond-doped
MgB2.
