Phys.org April 24, 2024
There is an existing model that diamond can be grown using liquid metals only at both high pressure and high temperature. Researchers in South Korea described the growth of diamond crystals and polycrystalline diamond films with no seed particles using liquid metal but at 1 atm pressure and at 1,025 °C. Diamond grew in the subsurface of liquid metal composed of gallium, iron, nickel and silicon, by catalytic activation of methane and diffusion of carbon atoms into and within the subsurface regions. They found that the supersaturation of carbon in the liquid metal subsurface led to the nucleation and growth of diamonds, with Si playing an important part in stabilizing tetravalently bonded carbon clusters that play a part in nucleation. According to the researchers their findings opens many possibilities for further basic science studies and for the scaling of this type of growth… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Synthesis of diamond on a liquid metal surface that is at an interface with graphite. Credit: Nature, 24 April 2024