By: Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, December 23, 2022
Scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (California, USA) claim to have been able to create nanodiamonds from plastic using powerful lasers, according to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances.
Researchers have previously been able to create nanodiamonds by shooting lasers at a mixture of carbon and hydrogen, but it required extraordinarily high pressures. However, the new work found that using the simple plastic—commonly used to make bottles and other containers—diamonds could be made under much less extreme conditions.
Specifically, the plastic, which contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, was heated to temperatures between 3,200 °C and 5,800 °C and the shock waves generated by the laser pulse produced pressures of more than 72 gigapascals, the equivalent of one fifth part of the pressure in the Earth’s core.
This process separated the hydrogen and oxygen from the carbon, leaving tiny diamonds just a few nanometers across. As a by-product, superionic ice was also obtained, a phase of water that exists at extremely high temperatures and pressures and has very high electroconductivity.
This material from the portal actuality.rt.com was edited for clarity, style and length.
Source Actualidad RT in Spanish : https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/440522-cientificos-potentes-laseres-plastico-convertir-diamantes-planetas
Photo: ShutterStock
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