Scientists have discovered a new type of material, carbon nitride, that may rival diamond in hardness. The discovery is the result of international collaboration and decades of research, and its durability, properties such as photoluminescence and high energy density open up a wide range of industrial applications. This breakthrough, funded by an international grant and published in Advanced Materials, represents a significant advance in materials science.
Scientists have solved a decades-old mystery and uncovered a nearly indestructible material that could rival the hardest material on Earth, diamond, a study has announced.
Researchers have shown that when carbon and nitrogen precursors are exposed to extreme heat and pressure, the material known as carbon nitride becomes harder than cubic boron nitride, the second hardest material after diamond. discovered.
Unlocking the potential of carbon nitride
This breakthrough opens the door to multifunctional materials used for industrial purposes such as protective coatings for cars and spacecraft, heavy-duty cutting tools, solar panels, and photodetectors, experts say. states.
Materials researchers have been trying to unlock the potential of carbon nitride since the 1980s, when scientists first noticed its impressive properties, including high heat resistance.
However, despite more than 30 years of research and multiple synthetic attempts, no reliable results were reported.
International cooperation leads to success
Now, an international team of scientists led by researchers from the Center for Extreme State Science at the University of Edinburgh and experts from Germany’s Bayreuth University and Sweden’s Linköping University has finally achieved a breakthrough.
The researchers heated various forms of carbon-nitrogen precursors to temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius while exposing them to pressures ranging from 70 to 135 gigapascals (about 1 million times atmospheric pressure). Celsius.
To determine the atomic configuration of compounds under these conditions, intense X-ray beams were applied to the samples at three particle accelerators: the European Synchrotron Research Facility in France, the Deutsche Electronen Synchrotron in Germany, and the Advanced Photon Source. It was irradiated. In the US.
What new discoveries mean
Researchers have discovered that three carbon nitride compounds have the necessary building blocks for superhardness.
Remarkably, all three compounds retained their diamond-like quality upon return to ambient pressure and temperature conditions.
Further calculations and experiments suggest that this new material contains additional properties such as photoluminescence and a high energy density that allows it to store large amounts of energy in a small amount of mass.
The potential applications for these ultra-incompressible carbon nitrides are vast, researchers say, and could position them as the ultimate engineering material, rivaling diamond.
The research, published in Advanced Materials, was funded by the UKRI FLF scheme and a European research grant.
Dr Dominic Lanier, Future Leaders Fellow at the Institute for Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Systems, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, said: Materials researchers have been dreaming for the past 30 years. These materials provide a strong motivation to bridge the gap between high-pressure material synthesis and industrial applications. ”
Dr Florian Tribel, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, said: “These materials are not only outstanding in their multifunctionality, but also in technically suitable phases, a situation that has been observed thousands of kilometers deep within the Earth’s interior. This collaboration opens new possibilities for this field. I strongly believe that it will open up new possibilities.”
Reference: “Synthesis of ultraincompressible and recoverable carbon nitride featuring CN4 tetrahedra”, Dominique Laniel, Florian Trybel, Andrey Aslandukov, Saiana Khandarkhaeva, Timofey Fedotenko, Yuqing ying, Nobuyoshi Miyajima, Ferenc Tasnádi, Alena By V. Ponomareva, Nityasagar Jena, Fariia Iasmin Akbar, Bjorn Winkler, Adrian Neri, Stella Chariton, Vitali Plakapenka, Victor Millman, Wolfgang Schnigg, Alexander N. Rudenko, Mikhail I. Katsnelson , Igor A. Abrikosov, Leonid Dubrobinsky, Natalia Dubrobinskaya, October 11, 2023, advanced materials.
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202308030
Source: scitechdaily.com
