Scientists have discovered a new class of material, carbonitride, which is as hard as diamond. The discovery, the result of international collaboration and decades of research, opens up the possibility of a variety of industrial applications due to its durability and other properties such as photoluminescence and high energy density. This breakthrough, funded by international funds and published in Advanced Materials, marks a major advance in materials science.
Scientists have solved a decades-old puzzle and unveiled a nearly indestructible substance that could rival diamond as the hardest material on Earth, a study says.
The researchers found that when precursors of carbon and nitrogen are subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the resulting material - carbonitride - is harder than cubic boron nitride, the second-hardest material after diamond.
Experts say the breakthrough opens the door to industrial applications for the versatile material, including protective coatings for cars and spacecraft, high-end endurance cutting tools, solar panels and photodetectors.
Materials researchers have been trying to tap the potential of carbonitrides since the 1980s, when scientists first noticed their special properties, including high heat resistance.
However, after more than thirty years of research and multiple attempts at synthesis, there have been no credible results.
International cooperation brings success
Now, an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Center for Extreme Conditions Science at the University of Edinburgh, experts from the University of Bayreuth in Germany and Linköping University in Sweden, has finally made a breakthrough.
The team put various forms of carbon-nitrogen precursors under pressures of 70 to 135 gigapascals (about one million times atmospheric pressure) while heating them to more than 1,500 degrees Celsius.
To determine the atomic arrangement of these compounds under these conditions, the samples were illuminated with intense beams of X-rays at three particle accelerators - the European Synchrotron Research Facility in France, Deutsche Electron Synchrotron in Germany and the Advanced Photon Source in the United States.
The researchers discovered that there are three carbon nitride compounds that have the building blocks needed for ultra-hardness. Remarkably, the three compounds retained their diamond-like qualities when returned to ambient pressure and temperature conditions. Further calculations and experiments showed that these new materials also possess other properties, including photoluminescence and high energy density.
Researchers say these ultra-compressed carbonitrides have a wide range of potential applications and could become the ultimate engineering material comparable to diamond.
The research, published in Advanced Materials, was funded by the Royal Institution's FLF program and the European Research Fund.
Dr Dominique Laniel, Future Leaders Fellow at the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, said: "In discovering the first new carbon nitride material, we are in disbelief that a material that researchers have dreamed of for the past three decades is finally available. These materials provide a powerful impetus to bridge the gap between high-pressure materials synthesis and industrial applications."
Dr. Florian Trybel, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, said: "These materials not only show remarkable versatility but also show that technologically relevant phases of matter can be recovered from synthetic pressure conditions equivalent to thousands of kilometers inside the Earth. We are convinced that this collaborative research will open up new possibilities in the field."
Compiled source: ScitechDaily