Diamonds have never been considered ‘piezoelectric’, since producing electricity requires bending and contorting materials. Diamonds were considered hard, thermally brilliant, chemically inert, and electrically inert under mechanical stress.
Researchers at the University of Hong Kong published a paper in Science Advances showing that ultrathin, flexible polycrystalline diamond membranes generate measurable electricity when bent.
This study created a diamond membrane only a few micrometres thick, flexed the material, and found that diamonds are piezoelectric.
“Although diamonds have been cherished for millennia, scientists are still learning more about these incredible cubic carbon lattices. For more than a century, scientists assumed diamonds weren’t piezoelectric — a term for materials that generate an electrical charge when placed under mechanical stress,” writes Darren Orf for Popular Mechanics.
“To a certain degree, this makes logical sense — after all, diamonds aren’t exactly known for their ability to stretch, squeeze, and deform.
“If diamonds can be piezoelectric, that property would be a game changer for micromechanical systems that rely on diamonds to simply support other piezoelectric materials.
“Because it’s non-toxic and chemically stable, an electricity-producing diamond membrane could be a big hit with energy and medical industries, possibly becoming a central piece of technology in implants that can power themselves.
This discovery could open new opportunities to use diamonds in a growing range of energy and medical devices - beyond being a passive support material, which is how they are currently used.
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