Researchers from two higher-education institutions in China have created a super-rare, high-quality diamond in the lab, which is many times stronger than its natural counterparts.
The scientists who created the diamond believe their creation could have several applications in sectors where diamonds are already used. Perhaps the best-known example of an industry where diamonds are used is for polishing and cutting tools.
Until now, the hardest diamonds found on Earth were discovered only in impact craters, making them extremely rare and small. Research conducted at Jilin University in Changchun, led by Liu Bingbing and Yao Mingguang, along with Zhu Shengcai from Sun Yat-sen University in Shenzhen, discovered that graphite formed a structure called the post-graphite phase.
The research team from China was able to replicate the crystal structure of the strongest diamonds
The scientists discovered that the post-graphite phase formed a hexagonal diamond when compressed and heated to extreme temperatures. Immediately after making this discovery, the team published their findings in the academic journal Nature Materials.
Ultra-hard or ‘super’ diamonds are a relatively recent discovery. The first one was discovered in the Canyon Diablo meteorite in Arizona, in 1967. Since then, scientists have found replicating the structure of these diamonds to be challenging.
Chinese scientists have found a new approach to synthesize nearly pure hexagonal diamond (HD) by heating highly compressed graphite. Using this approach, a mm-sized, highly oriented HD block comprising stacked single-crystal-like HD nanolayers is obtained. This HD exhibits high… pic.twitter.com/0Y3jlRC5Eo
— China Science (@ChinaScience) February 14, 2025
Despite this challenge, some research teams, like the one that conducted the study, have successfully produced synthetic hexagonal diamonds.
The study published by Chinese scientists states that the synthetic diamond they produced is of high quality, 40 percent harder than natural diamonds, and possesses better thermal stability.
US-based researchers produced hexagonal diamonds in 2021
A group of U.S. scientists successfully synthetically produced hexagonal diamonds four years ago. While these creations do not possess the physical characteristics of graphite-based diamonds, they are large enough to allow measurement of their stiffness using sound waves.
One of the co-authors of the 2021 study, Travis Volz, noted that the rocks produced by the US team had productive potential in a variety of industries, especially those requiring advanced materials.
Such sectors include aerospace engineering, military defense construction, and automotive, as all of these industries could utilize materials with such properties. A more immediate application for these diamonds, however, could be as an alternative in machining drilling.
Another diamond-related development is coming from a collaboration between some of China’s top universities. Researchers from Zhengzhou University, Henan Academy of Sciences, Ningbo University, and Jilin University have developed diamonds that can conduct electricity. This could be an industrial game changer, as natural diamonds are excellent heat conductors but cannot carry electricity.
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