Scientists Turn Plastic Into Diamonds In Breakthrough (vice.com) 46
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: More than a billion miles away from Earth, on the ice giants of Neptune and Uranus, diamonds are forever. This isn't cosmic poetry, but a reasonable scientific conclusion: We know that under extreme pressures and high temperatures miles beneath a planet's surface, hydrocarbons are pummeled into a crystalline bling coveted by the affianced. But on far-flung Neptune and Uranus, the Universe's diamond-making process is a bit more curious. Since the 1970s, scientists believed that diamonds might actually rain down toward the mostly slushy planets' rocky interiors -- a diamond rain, if you will. In 2017, researchers in Germany and California found a way to replicate those planetary conditions, fabricating teeny tiny diamonds called nanodiamonds in the lab using polystyrene (aka Styrofoam). Five years later and they're back at it again, this time using some good ol' polyethylene terephthalate (PET), according to a study published on Friday in Science Advances. The research has implications not only for our understanding of space, but paves a path toward creating nanodiamonds that are used in a range of contexts out of waste plastic.
So, why in the world are we making diamonds out of the same plastic that things like food containers and water bottles are made of? There's a good reason for this, Dominik Kraus, a scientist at the German research laboratory Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and lead author of the study, said in an email. When Kraus and his colleagues first attempted making nanodiamonds with polystyrene -- which contains the same elements of carbon and hydrogen found on Neptune and Uranus -- they did so by bombarding the material with the Linac Coherent Light Source, a high-powered X-ray laser at the SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory in California. This process rapidly heated the polystyrene to 5,000 Kelvin (around 8,540 degrees Fahrenheit) and compressed it by 150 gigapascals, similar to conditions found about 6,000 miles into the interior of the icy planets. While the researchers were able to make the microscopic bling with two quick hits from the laser, they later realized one vital chemical ingredient was missing: oxygen. So they turned to PET, which has a good balance of not only carbon and hydrogen but also oxygen, making it a closer chemical proxy to the ice giants than polystyrene.
"The chemistry at these conditions is very complex and modeling extremely difficult. 'Anything can happen' is a typical phrase when discussing such scenarios with theorists," said Kraus. "Indeed, there were some predictions showing that the presence of oxygen is helping [carbon separate from hydrogen] and diamond formation, but also ideas that it may be the other way around." To put the theoretical pedal to the metal, Kraus and his colleagues took a piece of PET, put it through the same 2017 experimental motions, but also included something called small angle X-ray diffraction to see how quickly and how large the diamonds grow. "We found that the presence of oxygen enhances diamond formation instead of preventing it, making 'diamond rain' inside those planets a more likely scenario," said Kraus. "We [also] see that diamonds grow larger for higher pressures and with progressing time in the experiments." They were also able to squeeze out a lot of tiny diamonds from just one shot of X-ray, on the order of a few billion crystallites (or a few micrograms if you're talking total weight). But Kraus said this isn't enough, at least right now, for application purposes like diamond quantum sensors, which are used to detect magnetic flow, or chemical catalysts, which need a couple of milligrams at minimum. However, it could eventually be scaled up to serve those purposes, and be the first step to a more ritzy way of plastic recycling. Kraus and his team also believe they found more evidence for superionic water, a bizarre type of water that acts like a weird cross between solid and liquid. "Kraus said that the finding that nanodiamonds indeed form inside ice giants makes it more likely for the conditions for superionic water to arise," reports Motherboard.
Kraus said: "[O]ur experiments show that carbon is separating from hydrogen and oxygen allowing pure water regions to form inside the planets. Thus, by making diamond precipitation a more realistic scenario inside those planets, also the formation of superionic water becomes more likely."
So, why in the world are we making diamonds out of the same plastic that things like food containers and water bottles are made of? There's a good reason for this, Dominik Kraus, a scientist at the German research laboratory Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and lead author of the study, said in an email. When Kraus and his colleagues first attempted making nanodiamonds with polystyrene -- which contains the same elements of carbon and hydrogen found on Neptune and Uranus -- they did so by bombarding the material with the Linac Coherent Light Source, a high-powered X-ray laser at the SLAC National Acceleratory Laboratory in California. This process rapidly heated the polystyrene to 5,000 Kelvin (around 8,540 degrees Fahrenheit) and compressed it by 150 gigapascals, similar to conditions found about 6,000 miles into the interior of the icy planets. While the researchers were able to make the microscopic bling with two quick hits from the laser, they later realized one vital chemical ingredient was missing: oxygen. So they turned to PET, which has a good balance of not only carbon and hydrogen but also oxygen, making it a closer chemical proxy to the ice giants than polystyrene.
"The chemistry at these conditions is very complex and modeling extremely difficult. 'Anything can happen' is a typical phrase when discussing such scenarios with theorists," said Kraus. "Indeed, there were some predictions showing that the presence of oxygen is helping [carbon separate from hydrogen] and diamond formation, but also ideas that it may be the other way around." To put the theoretical pedal to the metal, Kraus and his colleagues took a piece of PET, put it through the same 2017 experimental motions, but also included something called small angle X-ray diffraction to see how quickly and how large the diamonds grow. "We found that the presence of oxygen enhances diamond formation instead of preventing it, making 'diamond rain' inside those planets a more likely scenario," said Kraus. "We [also] see that diamonds grow larger for higher pressures and with progressing time in the experiments." They were also able to squeeze out a lot of tiny diamonds from just one shot of X-ray, on the order of a few billion crystallites (or a few micrograms if you're talking total weight). But Kraus said this isn't enough, at least right now, for application purposes like diamond quantum sensors, which are used to detect magnetic flow, or chemical catalysts, which need a couple of milligrams at minimum. However, it could eventually be scaled up to serve those purposes, and be the first step to a more ritzy way of plastic recycling. Kraus and his team also believe they found more evidence for superionic water, a bizarre type of water that acts like a weird cross between solid and liquid. "Kraus said that the finding that nanodiamonds indeed form inside ice giants makes it more likely for the conditions for superionic water to arise," reports Motherboard.
Kraus said: "[O]ur experiments show that carbon is separating from hydrogen and oxygen allowing pure water regions to form inside the planets. Thus, by making diamond precipitation a more realistic scenario inside those planets, also the formation of superionic water becomes more likely."
So? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re:So? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll take anything that can fuck up the DeBeers monopoly. Diamonds, and rocks in general should be dirt cheap. The people, animals, and environment that have to be exploited to get gems makes it a terrible thing. We need cheap ass synthetic gemstones.
Re:So? (Score:5, Informative)
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A diamond is a crystal, and a plastic is a polymer ... both of these materials can currently be engineered to biodegrade at EXACTLY 50 years from manufacture year.
I cannot be the only person who read this and thought "What?" My imagination just went into overdrive...
Any chance you could provide a reference or link to an article or paper discussing how we can manufacture diamonds to biodegrade in this way or, better yet, one in which the authors demonstrate such an effect? Thanks in advance.
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Your AI text generator is really good. I was almost fooled into thinking a human wrote your posts. Bravo! I look forward to your future improvements.
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My nephew's gf specifically asked him to get her a lab diamond. She wants pretty, not zirconium, but guilt free.
I suspect there'll be a lot more of that going on since these kids grew up knowing about the horrors of the diamond industry and don't give a fuck about a debeers serial number. I doubt she even knows who they are.
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She'll learn all about serial numbers when they etch one into her flesh! Mua ha ha!
(well maybe DeBeers won't be the ones doing it)
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Actually, if they can turn all the PET plastic soda and drinking bottles into diamonds, it might solve both problems.
Diamonds, even microdiamonds, have great uses. They make for great sand paper grit, excellent sharpening stones, and drill bit coating. Perhaps if they use Mt Dew bottles, they can even get green diamonds. j/k
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I wonder if they can be mixed into other things such as asphalt and paint and if that would have a real world benefit. Imagine if your car's paint resisted chipping from road debris, for example, or pot holes formed slower.
Re: So? (Score:2)
Both are incredibly useful in different scenarios. Plastics are useful for just about everything and diamonds for example are good for coating tools for increased durability.
If you want to complain about microplastics that's another discussion. How we deal with waste is a whole other issue.
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Diamonds are incredibly useful in industry. Everything from cutting granite to filing knife edges, and many other things that improve your quality of life. Industrial diamonds have no earth- or human-damaging properties that I'm aware of. Turning some of these common plastics into nano diamonds is incredibly useful both to humans and to the earth.
Perhaps you are referring to to diamond gemstones, which have nothing to do with this new process? Funny how effective advertising is. The fact that you appar
Better or Worse? (Score:1)
fabricating teeny tiny diamonds called nanodiamonds
So should I be concerned that my daily allotment of microplastics I now get from all air and water, will instead be supplanted by nanodiamonds?
It sounds better, so I think I'll be happy, with every breath being a nano richer.
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And it's even worse on Uranus!
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Soon we can all cry about the Great Pacific Diamond Patch.
Mr Diamond (Score:2)
In the future everyone will have a Mr Diamond plastic recycler in the side yard. Mr Fusion comes later, about 50 years later.
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Prolly gonna need that Mr. Fusion first.
IIRC, De Beers hated synthetic diamonds (Score:4, Interesting)
And they even worked at stopping marketing them as diamonds. Until they got into the act anyway.
I always thought synthetic diamonds should market themself as "Star Stones" (based in fact by the pressures required) and get extra creative with introducing impurities to lend them boldness.
Anyway, here's a link.
https://www.thegazette.news/ne... [thegazette.news]
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For _any_ story you should have said, "The reporter isn't aware".
100% accurate, every time.
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De Beers spent a lot of money finding ways to detect "artificial" diamonds, or more accurately diamonds made in a factory rather than in the ground. It was the motivation for setting up all the traceability stuff, which coincidentally did help stop some of the blood diamond trade.
Basically a big marketing effort to differentiate natural diamonds and make them more desirable to people who want to spend large amounts of money on pretty but useless rocks.
Coming soon (Score:3)
The Great Pacific Diamond Patch!
You heard it here first...
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ITYM "The Now Medium-Sized Pacific Diamond Patch"...
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Actually no, there's a post here from about an hour before yours from an AC. I heard it there first.
A few years later... (Score:5, Funny)
Let's put some thought on this... (Score:2)
Plastic, that LIMITED resource and a BASIC REQUIREMENT in modern society (container, protector, storage, etc.)
So, now we turn that into diamonds when the diamond companies has kept a COLOSAL STORAGE of those stone to keep the prices so high that people ruin themselves for something that, in reality, is cheaper than a potato.
Also, we trash that so much needed plastic instead of... let's say... CAPTURE CO2 (all atmosphere layers) & O3 (low layers, were we are, where it is a poison) from air, thus cleaning
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How are you going to turn O3 into diamonds?
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My bad, trying to make my OP shorter...
I meant to indicate to use O3 as energy fuel.
For obvious reasons your comment implies, it's impossible to transform O3 into diamond...
Alchemy v2.0 (Score:2)
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You must be using metric. Those of us on imperial units figured that out a long time ago.
Re: Alchemy v2.0 (Score:2)
Give me a large periodic table and a sharpie.
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Evidence for superionic water... (Score:2)
Ice-nine!
Don't know about you guys (Score:2)
But I think Dr. Kraus is way too fixated on Uranus.
Prior art (Score:2)
Bimbos [pinimg.com] have been converting plastic into diamonds for years.
Those plastic bags I paid 5 cents for was a great (Score:2)