A newly created ultra-hard material rivals diamond

2023-12-14 11:36:45

Experimental evidence for the superhardness of C3N4 polymorphs. – LANIEL ET AL. /ADVANCED MATERIALS

MADRID, 14 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Researchers led by the University of Edinburgh have discovered a almost unbreakable substance which could rival diamond as the hardest material on Earth.

In an article published in the magazine Advanced Materialsthe authors explain that when the carbon and nitrogen precursors When subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the resulting materials, known as carbon nitrides, are stronger than cubic boron nitride, the second hardest material after diamond.

According to experts, the breakthrough opens the doors to the use of multifunctional materials for industrial purposes, including protective coatings for automobiles and spacecraft, heavy duty cutting toolssolar panels and photodetectors.

Materials researchers have been trying to unlock the potential of carbon nitrides since the 1980s, when scientists first noticed their exceptional properties, including high heat resistance.

However, after more than three decades of research and multiple attempts to synthesize them, no credible results were reported.

Now, an international team of scientists, led by researchers from the Center for Extreme Science at the University of Edinburgh and experts from the University of Bayreuth, Germany and Linköping University, Sweden, has finally made a breakthrough.

The team subjected various forms of carbon and nitrogen precursors to pressures between 70 and 135 gigapascals (about 1 million times our atmospheric pressure). while heating them to temperatures of more than 1,500 °C.

To identify the atomic arrangement of the compounds under these conditions, the samples were illuminated by an intense beam of X-rays at three particle accelerators: the European Synchrotron Research Center in France, the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Germany and the Advanced Photon Source in the United States.

The researchers discovered that three carbon nitride compounds had the basic components necessary for super hardness.

Surprisingly, all three compounds retained their diamond-like qualities when returned to room pressure and temperature conditions.

Further calculations and experiments suggest that the new materials contain additional properties including photoluminescence and high energy density, where a large amount of energy can be stored in a small amount of mass.

Researchers say the potential applications of these ultra-incompressible carbon nitrides are enormous, potentially positioning them as the ultimate engineering materials to rival diamonds.