Diamonds have always been associated with beauty, luxury, and high-end living. But now, thanks to a brand new American study, diamonds may play a crucial role in the future development nanowires.
Researchers at Stanford University and the SLCA National Accelerator Laboratory (a division of the U.S. Department of Energy) have just concluded a series studies using diamonds, sulfur, and copper to make efficient and slim nanowires.
But these nanowires aren't like any others. These diamond-sheathed nanowires are officially the world's thinnest wires ever produced in a lab setting. Professors believe these extremely thin wires could be one of the most useful findings in nanotechnology recently.
So, how did these scientific wizards work their magic? Well, they first took extremely small diamond fragments, combined these diamonds with sulfur atoms, and then placed them in a copper atom solution. Amazingly, the sulfur-diamond combinations (officially called "diamondoids") self-assembled themselves into a wire once placed in the copper solution. Once the product was complete, all of the atoms were protected in a strong layer of pure diamond.
Of course, this isn't the first time scientists have worked with self-organizing atoms before. However, most tests done on carbon-based self-organizing atoms use organic chemicals. The importance of this Stanford study is that scientists were able to make self-organizing materials from inorganic chemicals specifically for electronic products.
Stanford Professor Nicholas Melosh, the head researcher on this project, told reporters this study was primarily concerned with finding the right balance of attractive and repulsive forces to help the atoms bind together naturally. Melosh said the main takeaway from this research is that atom-scale structures can be reliably produced and duplicated given the proper conditions.
Researchers were also interested in studying the organic growth process of these particular atoms and recording their observations. Although both copper and sulfur are great semiconductors, researchers weren't particularly concerned with the overall efficiency of their product.
Interestingly, this team of researchers used petroleum from Arkansas to get their diamond fragments. The scientists were able to extract molecule-sized diamond fragments from the petroleum oil sent into their lab.
The next step for these researchers is to figure out how to produce large quantities of these wires quickly. Scientists also want to see what happens when they use materials other than sulfur and copper in their diamond experiments. Just a few other materials researchers are interested in studying include cadmium, silicon, iron, zinc, and gold.
Scientists interested in solar energy are extremely interested in further studies of this diamond wire with silicon. Some believe a nanowire made with silicon and diamond could greatly enhance the energy gathering capabilities of the solar cell.
While researchers are hopeful these diamond nanowires will have a practical effect in the real world, this study was only the first step in a long process. It may take years before these researchers are able to incorporate their diamond nanowires into the mass market.
This entire study was published the day after Christmas in the research journal Nature Materials. This particular study was entitled "Hybrid Metal—Organic Chalcogenide Nanowires With Electrically Conductive Inorganic Core Through Diamondoid-Directed Assembly."
Image Credit Mike Seyfang on Flickr, licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0.