Aerogels are extremely porous and lightweight materials with a large surface area and many potential applications. Peter Pauzauskie, now at the University of Washington in Seattle, and his colleagues have created a diamond version of the material (pictured), by squeezing an aerogel of amorphous carbon until it took on a crystalline structure.
The authors used high-pressure neon gas to fill and support the delicate carbon structure. They then zapped it with a laser that compressed and heated the gel, probably to more than 1,600 kelvin, until it became diamond.
Diamond aerogels could be useful as antireflective coatings, thermal conductors and other materials, the authors say.
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Diamond lighter than a feather. Nature 473, 257 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/473257e
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/473257e
