Laser Shock Transforms Plastic into Nanodiamonds

The Fascination of Technology Laser Shock Transforms Plastic into Nanodiamonds

2026-09-21 Source: University of Rostock | Translated by AI 3 min Reading Time

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In our "Fascination with Technology" section, we showcase impressive research and development projects for design engineers every week. Today: how high-power lasers transform plastic film into ultra-pure nanodiamonds.

Through extreme compression, high-energy lasers transform simple plastics into high-purity nanodiamonds. What was once used in planetary physics is now opening up entirely new possibilities for quantum sensors, novel catalysts, and extremely hard materials. (Illustrative image)(Source: VCG / AI-generated) — Through extreme compression, high-energy lasers transform simple plastics into high-purity nanodiamonds. What was once used in planetary physics is now opening up entirely new possibilities for quantum sensors, novel catalysts, and extremely hard materials. (Illustrative image)
(Source: VCG / AI-generated)

Deep inside ice giants like Neptune or Uranus, unimaginable conditions prevail: temperatures of several thousand degrees Celsius and pressure millions of times greater than Earth’s atmospheric pressure compress carbon into diamonds. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the University of Rostock have now recreated these cosmic forges in the laboratory—with impressive potential for industrial materials engineering.

Using targeted laser compression, scientists have succeeded in producing ultra-small diamonds of the highest purity and with an extremely narrow size distribution from simple plastic. Previous synthesis methods, which rely on explosions, fail to achieve this level of precise control over particle size.

A Meteorite Impact in the Lab

Setup at the L4n-P3 experimental site at the ELI Beamlines facility south of Prague, where the experiments to produce nanodiamonds were conducted.(Source: ELI Beamlines) — Setup at the L4n-P3 experimental site at the ELI Beamlines facility south of Prague, where the experiments to produce nanodiamonds were conducted.
(Source: ELI Beamlines)

The technical implementation of this process calls for superlatives: At the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) near Prague, a high-power laser fires flashes of light three times per minute onto a PET film just 100 micrometers thick (0.004 inches thick). The resulting shock wave compresses the material so intensely that nanodiamonds form in fractions of a second.

The biggest challenge for the researchers, however, was capturing the particles. “When the compression wave reaches the end of the sample, it suddenly enters a vacuum. In the process, it accelerates the nanodiamonds to speeds of more than ten kilometers per second—comparable to a meteorite impact,” explains Prof. Dominik Kraus, founding director of the Institute of High-Energy-Density Physics at the HZDR. To prevent the tiny diamonds from being immediately destroyed upon impact, they are propelled into a cylinder filled with an extremely soft, water-soluble ionic gel.

Each laser pulse produces about 10 trillion nearly identical diamonds.

Scalable and Tailored to the Needs of Industry

The yield is enormous: Each laser pulse produces about 10 trillion nearly identical diamonds. However, since a single particle measures only about three nanometers and consists of just 3,000 carbon atoms, the team currently still needs about 100 pulses to achieve a yield in the microgram range. Nevertheless, the process is considered highly scalable. By using modern, energy-efficient high-energy lasers with high repetition rates, the researchers aim to soon reach the milligram range, which is relevant for industrial applications.

The extremely hard and heat-resistant nanodiamonds have a wide range of applications:

Sensors: As highly sensitive quantum sensors for the most precise measurement tasks.
Catalysis and Energy Technology: Thanks to their large specific surface area, they act as highly efficient reaction catalysts, for example in the splitting of CO₂ by sunlight.
Material Development: Since the starting material is simple plastic, the diamonds can be easily doped with foreign atoms during the process and thus precisely tailored to specific requirements.

Using the laser process, they plan to produce “BC8” in the near future—a form of carbon that has so far only been predicted theoretically and does not occur naturally on Earth.

Outlook: A Material That Surpasses Diamond

Researchers are already looking beyond diamonds. Using the laser process, they plan to produce “BC8” in the near future—a form of carbon that has so far only been predicted theoretically and does not occur naturally on Earth. The fascinating property of BC8 is that the material is said to be even denser than a diamond, similarly hard, but significantly less brittle. For wear-resistant technology and mechanical engineering, this would be an absolute sensation. An initial experiment on this is already scheduled.

A sample of the variety of configurations that Bifur circuits can form. (Source: Courtesy of the researchers)

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