Recently, Nankai University, through collaboration with Yanshan University and few other institutions, have resolved the long-standing controversies about the pathways of the graphite-to-diamond phase transformation with the high-pressure synthesis method. A new type of graphite-diamond composite material, which combines the electrical conductivity of graphite, the super hardness of diamond, and high tenacity that neither graphite nor diamond possesses, has also been prepared, adding as a new member of the family of carbon materials. The work has been published in Nature [Nature 607 486–491(2022)].
The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the Science Foundation for Outstanding Youth of Hebei Province. The paper's co-first authors are Dr. Kun Luo, Dr. Bing Liu, Dr. Wentao Hu and Associate Prof. Xiao Dong, while the correspondent author is Prof. Zhisheng Zhao. Associate Prof. Dong Xiao from Nankai University, as the paper's co-first author, is mainly responsible for the research on the pathways of phase transformation, barriers projection and kinetic stability analysis.
The Paper Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04863-2