Diamond is the hardest natural material on Earth, but supercomputers only simulated harder substances. This theoretical material, known as “super diamond,” could exist beyond our planet—and perhaps, one day, be created on Earth.
Like regular diamonds, super diamonds are composed of carbon atoms. This particular carbon phase consists of eight atoms and should be stable under ambient conditions. In other words, it could exist in a laboratory on Earth.
This specific phase, called BC8, is a high-voltage phase commonly found in silicon and germanium. As the new model shows, carbon can also be present in this specific phase.
border– the fastest and first exascale supercomputer – simulated the evolution of billions of carbon atoms under tremendous pressure. Supercomputers predict that BC8 carbon is 30% more resistant to compression than ordinary diamonds.The team recently described research on superhard materials publish exist Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.
“Despite many efforts to synthesize this elusive crystalline phase of carbon, including previous National Ignition Facility (NIF) activities,” said study co-author Marius Millot, a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). But it hasn’t been observed yet.” Lab release. “But we believe it could exist in carbon-rich exoplanets.”
This isn’t the first potential evidence of super-hard materials deep in space. In 2022, a team of researchers found evidence that Lonsdaleite—a rare form of diamond——Can be found in fragments of meteorites that fall to Earth.
space-based observatory like the webb space telescope Carbon-rich exoplanets are being revealed in unprecedented ways. In addition to Weber, NASA plans to build Habitable World Observatorya next-generation space telescope, could be operational by the early 2040s.
But scientists are certainly not waiting to get a better look at such distant worlds, especially since superdiamonds can only form in extremely high-pressure environments; that is, in the cores of these exoplanets.
Ivan Oleynik, a physicist at the University of South Florida and senior author of the paper, said in the same press release: “The extreme conditions prevalent in these carbon-rich exoplanets may produce structural forms of carbon such as diamond and BC8. “Therefore, a deep understanding of the properties of BC8’s carbon phase is critical to developing accurate interior models of these exoplanets.”
It is possible to grow such super diamonds in a laboratory environment. finally.To achieve this goal, however, the team must first explore what’s possible through LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), which is connected to Achieving net energy gain in fusion reactions 2022, and Came again last year.
The research will be completed through NIF discover science program. So when it comes to lab-grown super diamonds, my advice is don’t hold your breath. But things may be heating up in materials science.
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