In a new report published in Science Advances, Sulgiye
Park and a research team in geological sciences, materials and
energy sciences, advanced research and advanced radiation sources
in the U.S. and Beijing, China, developed a carbon-based
nanomaterial with exceptional properties. They used new
“diamondoids” as a promising precursor to develop laser-induced,
high-pressure and high-temperature diamonds. The lowest pressure
and temperature conditions to yield diamonds in the study were 12
GPa at approximately 2000 K and 900 K at a pressure of 20 GPa,
respectively. The work showed a substantially reduced
transformation barrier compared with diamond synthesis using
conventional hydrocarbon allotropes. Park et al. credited the
observations to structural similarities and the full sp3
hybridization of both diamondoids and bulk diamond.
New carbon-based nanomaterial: Facile diamond synthesis from
lower ‘diamondoids’
