Simple bending of diamond nanoneedles can reversibly convert diamond from an electrical insulator to a metal-like conductor, a study finds. Recent studies have shown that nanoscale diamond needles can significantly deform and return to their original states at room temperature. These demonstrations allow the use of strain engineering to exploit or alter the unique material properties of diamond. Subra Suresh, Ju Li, Ming Dao, and colleagues report that the application of mechanical strain alone can "metallize" diamond, closing the large band gap that makes diamond an excellent insulator and imbuing the material with metal-like electronic properties. The authors performed computer simulations of reversible deformation and used the results as a training set for machine learning algorithms, which home in on optimal material properties and loading conditions for diamond across various geometries. The authors found that even simple bending of certain monocrystalline diamond nanoneedles can effectively metallize diamond at strains below levels that would fracture or destabilize the material's atomic structure or trigger a phase transition to graphite. The findings could enable strategies to customize the properties of diamond for an array of unexplored electronics and quantum sensing applications, according to the authors.
Article #20-13565: "Metallization of diamond," by Zhe Shi et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Foo Jie Ying, Nanyang Technological University, SINGAPORE; e-mail: jieying@ntu.edu.sg ; Ju Li, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; tel: 617-253-0166; e-mail: liju@mit.edu ; Ming Dao, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; tel: 617-253-2100; e-mail: mingdao@mit.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences