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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Crack this kind of diamond, and it heals itself

Synthetic diamond recovers from fracture when carbon atoms on both sides of the gap form bonds with each other.
STEM image showing interlocked grains containing nanotwins and diamond polytype domains.

‘Nanotwinned’ diamond, a synthetic version of the gem, can use chemical bonds to repair microscopic cracks in itself. Credit: Yonghai Yue

A type of synthetic diamond can heal itself without any aid, much like bones do1.

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Nature 622, 11 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03011-8

References

  1. Qiu, K. et al. Nature Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01656-4 (2023).

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