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Title: Investigation of Room Temperature Formation of the Ultra-Hard Nanocarbons Diamond and Lonsdaleite

Journal Article · · Small

Abstract Diamond is an attractive material due to its extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity, quantum optical, and biomedical applications. There is still much that is not understood about how diamonds form, particularly at room temperature and without catalysts. In this work, a new route for the formation of nanocrystalline diamond and the diamond‐like phase lonsdaleite is presented. Both diamond phases are found to form together within bands with a core‐shell structure following the high pressure treatment of a glassy carbon precursor at room temperature. The crystallographic arrangements of the diamond phases revealed that shear is the driving force for their formation and growth. This study gives new understanding of how shear can lead to crystallization in materials and helps elucidate how diamonds can form on Earth, in meteorite impacts and on other planets. Finally, the new shear induced formation mechanism works at room temperature, a key finding that may enable diamond and other technically important nanomaterials to be synthesized more readily.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Australian Research Council (ARC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; NA0001974; EAR-1634415; FG02-94ER14466; AC02-06CH11357; DP170102087; DE‐NA0001974; DE‐AC05‐00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1709105
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1786565
Journal Information:
Small, Vol. 16, Issue 50; ISSN 1613-6810
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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