Scientists Create Tiny Diamonds And Found New Phase Of Carbon

Scientists Create Tiny Diamonds And Found New Phase Of Carbon - Scientists at the North Carolina State University announced Monday that they’ve found a new phase of carbon and made micro diamonds at room temperature using a new technique.

Published in the Journal of Applied Physics, the scientific article reveals that researchers headed by John C. Fan Distinguished Chair Professor, Jagdish Narayan PhD, have found a new phase of carbon, and they call it Q-Carbon.

Phases are distinct forms of the same material, like for example, graphite and diamonds are two phases of carbon. 

Geoscientists have theorized that our planet started “making” diamonds more than 500 to a billion years after its formation. Some diamonds can be found 240 kilometers below Earth’s ground - and these clear hard crystals have formed at high temperature and pressure.

Professor Narayan says they’ve “created a third solid phase of carbon”, and it’s harder than diamond.

This phase of carbon can be found in cores of some planets.

Unlike other phases of carbon, researchers say Q-Carbon has some unusual characteristics. First, it’s ferromagnetic. Second, it glows when exposed to even low-level energy.

Narayan also underlined the fact that the technique used to create Q-Carbon is inexpensive - and it makes Q-Carbon very promising for developing new display technologies.

But Q-Carbon’s potential is not limited to technology products, Narayan says they’ve also created micro diamonds using Q-Carbon.

Making Q-Carbon And Very Tiny Diamonds

The process requires substrate, such as glass sapphire or a plastic polymer. And then researchers have coated the substrate with amorphous carbon, a reactive type of carbon that does not have any crystalline structure. The carbon is then hit with a single laser pulse lasting approximately 200 nanoseconds.

During the laser pulse, the temperature of the carbon coating is raised to four thousand Kelvin or more than 3,700 degrees Celsius - and then rapidly cooled. Researchers say this process takes place at one atmosphere, meaning, the same pressure as the surrounding air.

The end product is a film of Q-Carbon, and researchers say they can control the process to make films between 20 to 500 nanometers thick. In addition, they can also make diamond structures by using different substrates and changing the duration of the laser pulse.

Professor Narayan says they can create diamond microneedles or nanoneedles or even a large-area diamond films - and these can be used for drug delivery, industrial processes and even electronics production.

“And it’s all done at room temperature at ambient atmosphere,” says Narayan. He also added that the laser they’re using is similar to ones used for eye surgeries.

Credit: Featured image not the diamond from Q-Carbon technique. To see the microdiamonds from the NC State research, please visit the school’s official website. The research is titled “Direct conversion of amorphous carbon into diamond at ambient pressures and temperatures in air.” Anagh Bhaumik from the North Carolina State University is the co-author of the research. Source: StGist

SHARE