It takes billions of years for natural diamonds to form in the extreme pressures and temperatures underground.
Synthetic forms can be produced much faster, but they need to be heavily pressurized, usually around a few weeks.
A new method based on a mixture of liquid metals can extract an artificial diamond in minutes without the need for massive compression.
A diamond film was created in an ATM (standard atmospheric unit) at a temperature of 1,025 degrees in 150 minutes.
This is equivalent to the pressure we feel at sea level and is tens of thousands of times less than the pressure normally required.
The team behind the innovative approach, led by researchers from the South Korean Institute of Basic Science, is confident that the process can be scaled up to make a significant difference in the production of synthetic diamonds.
Melting carbon into liquid metal to produce diamonds is not entirely new. For example, a process using molten iron sulfide was developed half a century ago.
But these processes still required pressures of 5-6 gigapascals and a diamond ‘seed’ for the carbon to attach to.
“We discovered a method of growing diamonds using a liquid metal alloy at 1 atm pressure and moderate temperature,” the researchers said in their published paper.
Tags: Scientists produced diamonds minutes
