Scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of South Florida (USF) have discovered a new extremely hard material in the universe that surpasses the strength of traditional diamonds. This material is known as BC8 and is a carbon crystal with unique properties that make it more resistant to compression than any other known material.
BC8 is a crystalline structure of carbon with a tetrahedral shape that lacks "cleavage planes" which usually weaken the structure of conventional diamonds. The researchers managed to discover this compound through molecular dynamics simulations of millions of carbon atoms under extreme pressure and high temperatures. It is believed that BC8 could be naturally generated on carbon-rich exoplanets under extreme conditions.
Ivan Oleynik, a co-author of the study, mentioned that BC8 could be formed in laboratories, but currently represents a challenge for researchers due to the high energy barrier required to overcome the transition from diamond phase to BC8 phase during its creation. Until now, diamond has been considered the hardest known material; however, this new discovery opens new possibilities in astrophysical research and in the field of superhard materials.
The scientists used the Frontier supercomputer, located at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility in the United States, to conduct this study and identify the exceptional properties of BC8. It is estimated that this material could be found on exoplanets with abundant carbon and extreme conditions. Despite previous unsuccessful attempts to create such resistant materials, this finding opens new doors in the search for compounds with unique properties in the universe.
