Search Here

A team from the North Carolina State University   has found a new phase of solid carbon called Q-carbon. 'Phases' indicate distinct forms of the same material and at present, researchers believe that there are two phases in carbon, graphite and diamond, according to HNGN. The team outlines that it is searching for a technique that can use the new phase of carbon to make "diamond-like structures" at existing room temperature.

"We've now created a third solid phase of carbon," said Jay Narayan, lead author in a press release. "The only place it may be found in the natural world would be possibly in the core of some planets."

Being ferromagnetic, that is, possessing magnetization below a certain temperature, even when an external magnetic field is absent, was found shocking by Narayan and his team.

"We didn't even think that was possible," he said.

With just a single substrate, the researchers used laser beams that could raise and then rapidly cool the temperature of amorphous carbon. This is different from graphite and diamond because it has no "fixed structure".

This procedure happened at just one atmosphere with the same pressure as the atmosphere around it, which led to the Q-carbon. It can be manipulated with the help of diverse substrates as well as variations of the direction of the laser pulse in order to manage the speed of the carbon. It thus controls how fast the carbon cools, which would ultimately create diamond-like structures.

"We can create diamond nanoneedles or microneedles, nanodots, or large-area diamond films, with applications for drug delivery, industrial processes and for creating high-temperature switches and power electronics," said Narayan. "These diamond objects have a single-crystalline structure, making them stronger than polycrystalline materials. And it is all done at room temperature and at ambient atmosphere - we're basically using a laser like the ones used for laser eye surgery. So, not only does this allow us to develop new applications, but the process itself is relatively inexpensive."