Chinese physicists have announced the successful development of the world’s toughest glassy material that can scratch a diamond.
The novelty, codenamed AM-III, was created by researchers at Yanshan University together with Chinese and foreign colleagues from fullerene C60 under high temperature and pressure conditions. The density of the new material is comparable to that of diamond, and the Vickers hardness reaches 113 GPa.
AM-III is a transparent semiconductor with a bandgap equal to the widely used amorphous hydrogenated silicon a-Si: H. In this regard, the novelty will find wide application in the development of photovoltaic products, writes Xinhua news agency.
