Chinese scientists make ‘super diamond’ in the lab

Chinese scientists have created a high-quality “super diamond” in the laboratory with a hardness far exceeding natural diamonds. It could have industrial applications in some key sectors, with diamonds already widely used in industrial areas such as cutting and polishing tools.

Previously, the hardest diamonds were found only in impact craters, making them very rare and small.

The synthetic material is of high quality and has excellent physical properties. It is 40 per cent harder than a natural diamond and has greater thermal stability than nanodiamonds, which are less than 100 nanometres across.