A spot of pressure enables chemical conversion to hardened 2D material

Marrying two layers of graphene is an easy route to the blissful formation of nanoscale diamond, but sometimes thicker is better.

While it may only take a bit of heat to turn a treated bilayer of the ultrathin material into a cubic lattice of diamane, a bit of pressure in just the right place can convert few-layer graphene as well.

The otherwise chemically driven process is theoretically possible according to scientists at Rice University, who published their most recent thoughts on making high-quality diamane — the 2D form of diamond — in the journal Small (featured on the inside Front Cover).

The research led by materials theorist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering suggests a pinpoint of pressure on few-layer graphene, the atom-thin form of carbon known for its astonishing strength, can nucleate a surface chemical reaction with hydrogen or fluorine.

– See more at Rice News