The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern from gallium phosphide (GaP) nanoparticles showed the presence of the diamond (111) diffraction peak. Analysis of the Raman scattering of Gal? nanoparticles revealed that disordered graphite displayed a wide band at 1.572 cm(-1) assigned to the E(2g) I mode, and diamond displayed a wide band at 1324 cm(-1) assigned to the F(2g) mode. By means of Gaussian fitting, the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectrum of the C 1s core level was deconvoluted into two components centered at 284.2 and 287.2 eV binding energy, respectively. The binding energy peaks were indicative of the presence of oxidized disordered graphite and diamond phases.