Scientists have solved the decades-long puzzle of developing a virtually unbreakable substance that could rival the world’s hardest material, diamond.
The researchers found that when carbon and nitrogen precursors are subjected to extreme heat and pressure, the resulting materials, called carbon nitride, tend to be harder than cubic boron nitride (the second hardest material after diamond).
According to the new study, published in the academic journal Advanced Materials, this groundbreaking new material could pave the way for new multifunctional materials for industrial uses such as protective coatings for cars and spacecraft, high-strength cutting tools, solar panels and photodetectors.
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Scientists have known about the theoretical potential of carbon nitrides since the 1980s, including their high resistance to heat, but after more than 30 years of research and numerous attempts to synthesize them, no reliable results have been obtained in laboratories.
In the latest study, researchers, including some from the University of Edinburgh, heated various carbon nitrogen precursors to temperatures above 1500 degrees Celsius while subjecting them to pressures of 70 to 135 gigapascals (about 1 million times our atmospheric pressure).
They then analyzed the atomic arrangement of the compounds that emerged under these conditions and found that three carbon nitride compounds had the necessary building blocks for superhardness.
Scientists found that all three compounds retained their diamond-like qualities when returned to ambient pressure and temperature conditions.
The researchers also found that these three substances have high energy density, with large amounts of energy concentrated in a small amount of mass.
They say these compounds could become the ultimate engineering materials with the potential to rival diamonds.
“These materials provide a strong incentive to bridge the gap between high-pressure materials synthesis and industrial applications,” said Dominique Laniel, co-author of the study.
Not only are these materials exceptional in their multifunctionality, but they also demonstrate that the technologically relevant phases can be obtained at a synthesis pressure equivalent to conditions found thousands of kilometers inland.
