Diamonds have officially been dethroned as the hardest bling on the block.
Scientists at North Carolina State University published a paper in the Journal of Applied Physics on Monday, in which they described a new material that is even harder than diamonds.
The paper's authors, Jagdish Narayan and Anagh Bhaumik, named the substance Q-carbon. It's created by taking a piece of gem, like sapphire or glass, coating it with plastic polymer, and blasting it with a single pulse of laser. The resulting reaction is a layer of Q-carbon formed on the surface of the gem or glass.
Narayan told North Carolina State University News that by experimenting with the duration of the laser pulse, researchers were able to create "diamond nanoneedles or microneedles, nanodots, or large-area diamond films, with applications for drug delivery, industrial processes and for creating high-temperature switches and power electronics."
Don't care much about gems? That's alright. Q-carbon can potentially be applied to something nearly all of us use: screens.
Narayan told the site, "Q-carbon’s strength and low work-function—its willingness to release electrons—make it very promising for developing new electronic display technologies."
There may be amazing innovations on the horizon with the discovery of Q-carbon, but we're most excited about a possible remix from Rihanna. "Shine bright like Q-carbon" might not be the catchiest chorus, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Ri-Ri.
