Can a diamond be made in a few minutes?

What nature takes billions of years to accomplish, now scientists can do it in a few minutes
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Recently, a scientific research team composed of researchers from Australia and the United States successfully challenged nature-they produced diamonds in a few minutes at room temperature in the laboratory
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In fact, natural diamonds need billions of years to form under extreme pressure and temperature deep in the earth
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The researchers used a device called a diamond anvil cell to generate the extreme pressure required for superhard materials.
This pressure is equivalent to "stacking" 640 African elephants on a ballet shoe.
On the toe of the shoe, the carbon atoms in the diamond anvil can react unexpectedly
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In this regard, one of the authors of the paper, Professor Jodie Bradby of the Australian National University (ANU), said that their technological breakthrough is like Superman-Superman can, without using heat rays, Press coal directly into diamonds
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Xingshuo Huang is a PhD from ANU and one of the authors of the paper.
He is currently working in Bradby's laboratory
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In her view, it is an exciting achievement to be able to manufacture two types of diamonds at room temperature
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Figure | Xingshuo Huang holding equipment used to make diamonds (Source: ANU) They made two types of diamonds: one is commonly used on engagement rings, and the other is called Lonsdaleite.
Diamond (a kind of natural diamond found at the impact point of meteorites such as the Diablo Canyon in the United States).
The crystal structure of this diamond is different from that of ordinary diamonds, and the hardness is 58% higher
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"The key point of the experiment is how we apply pressure
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In addition to being subjected to extreme pressure, we also apply a shear force to the carbon-similar to a twisting force or sliding force, which will cause the carbon atoms to move to The appropriate location, thus forming Lonsdale stone and ordinary diamonds
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" Professor Bradby said
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The corresponding author of the paper and a professor at RMIT University, Dougal McCulloch and his team used advanced electron microscopy techniques to capture physical and complete sections from experimental samples to observe the two How different types of diamonds are formed
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"Slice images show that under our new method, ordinary diamonds are only formed in these Lonsdaleite veins
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This phenomenon is amazing and helps us understand how these diamonds are formed
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" Carlock said
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Figure | Ordinary diamonds are formed between Lonsdale stone veins (Source: ANU) Researchers said that they hope that people can use this technology to produce a considerable number of man-made diamonds, especially Lonsdale stone
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Due to the greater hardness of Lonsdale stone, it is expected to be used for cutting superhard materials on mining sites
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In addition, the fast-produced diamonds can also be used in new protective coatings and other industrial equipment that has a certain demand for their own hardness
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"Making more of these rare but super useful diamonds is the long-term goal of this work
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" Bradby said
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