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Science 10 July 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5374, pp. 246 - 247
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5374.246
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Reports

A Reduction-Pyrolysis-Catalysis Synthesis of Diamond

Yadong Li, * Yitai Qian, * Hongwei Liao, Yi Ding, Li Yang, Cunyi Xu, Fangqing Li, Guien Zhou

[WARNING: Science has been notified that mixtures of sodium and carbon tetrachloride are exceedingly dangerous. After standing for a short time, the reaction products are shock-sensitive and highly explosive. See "Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards," by L. Bretherick (Butterworths, London, ed. 3, 1985), p. 1317.]

Diamond powder was synthesized through a metallic reduction-pyrolysis-catalysis route with the reaction of carbon tetrachloride and sodium at 700°C, in which the sodium was used as reductant and flux. This temperature is much lower than that of traditional methods. The x-ray powder diffraction patterns showed three strong peaks of diamond. The Raman spectrum showed a sharp peak at 1332 inverse centimeters, which is characteristic of diamond. Although the yield was only 2 percent, this method is a simple means of forming diamond.

Structure Research Laboratory and Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)