We were very excited, and glad.

New Scientist: A material that is harder than diamond has been created in the lab, by packing together tiny “nanorods” of carbon.

“Our material actually scratches normal diamonds,” says Natalia Dubrovinskaia, of the University of Bayreuth, in Germany, who led the research. “We were very excited, and glad.”
Dubrovinskaia told New Scientist the material could have a wide range of potential industrial applications. As it is stable at very high temperatures, she says it could be better than normal diamond for deep drilling and polishing abrasive materials. She also believes it will be easy to mass produce the super-tough material. “It’s a very reproducible result,” she adds.

The new material, known as aggregated carbon nanorods (ACNR), was created by compressing and heating super-strong carbon molecules called buckyballs or carbon-60. These molecules consist of 60 atoms that interlock in hexagonal or pentagonal shapes and resemble tiny soccer balls. The super-tough ACNR was created by compressing carbon-60 to 200 times normal atmospheric pressure, while simultaneously heating it to 2226°C.