Converting graphite into diamond has been a long held dream of alchemists the world over. In the modern era, materials scientists have puzzled over this process because it’s hard to work out why the ...

This illustration depicts a new technique that uses a pulsing laser to create synthetic nanodiamond films and patterns from graphite, with potential applications from biosensors to computer chips.

It is hard to imagine that graphite, the soft "lead" of pencils, can be transformed into a form that competes in strength with its molecular cousin diamond. It is hard to imagine that graphite ...

Crystallization in progress: Molten carbon can crystallize into diamond or graphite, but it has been difficult to study this process. New simulations show that graphite can sometimes "hijack" the ...

In brief: Chinese researchers have developed a synthetic diamond that is significantly harder and more resilient than those that occur naturally here on Earth. If commercially viable, the new diamond ...

(Nanowerk News) A research team led by SLAC scientists has uncovered a potential new route to produce thin diamond films for a variety of industrial applications, from cutting tools to electronic ...

Last month we heard about a brand new solid form of carbon, separate to the graphite and diamond forms that we already know so well. Called Q-Carbon because of the way that it is created (carbon is ...

Carbon comes in many different structures, most famously graphite and diamond. Other forms were predicted to exist at extremely high pressures, but now researchers have examined carbon under the ...

Exposing this layered structure to an ultrafast-pulsing laser instantly converts the graphite to an ionized plasma and creates a downward pressure. Then the graphite plasma quickly solidifies into ...