Chinese physicists have announced the successful development of the world's toughest glassy material that can scratch a diamond, according to Yanshan University in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province.
The novelty, codenamed AM-III, was created by researchers from the above university together with Chinese and foreign colleagues from C60 fullerene 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.
Glassy state - an amorphous state of a substance, which is formed when a supercooled melt solidifies. AM-III is a transparent semiconductor with a band gap 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.
The achievements of Chinese physicists were published on the website of the international edition of the National Science Review.
