4a. False. Flexible diamond doesn’t make any sense. Diamond is sp3 bonded carbon and those bonds are highly directional. They’re not going to flex.. Metals are flexible because metallic bonds, unlike covalent bonds, don’t confine the electrons in space. Whatever this purported carbon fiber is, it either won’t be flexible, or it won’t be diamond.
But a CNT isn’t diamond. Not at all! It’s got carbon in it, but CNTs are sp2 bonded, not sp3 bonded. This isn’t a diamond fiber anymore than the inside of a pencil is diamond fiber. The properties you would get expect out of a CNT are radically different than those you would expect out of a diamond fiber.
If we want to replace diamond fiber with CNT I can try and work through the implications of that, but they’re completely different physical systems.
Speaking as a layman, I would expect he’s thinking of some metamaterial made up partially of diamond, and partially of.. not-diamond. Diamond chainmail, to name a rather naive idea.
Is it possible to transition from sp3 to sp2 in a single crystal?
What, if you can place atoms arbitrarily, is the most useful thing you could do to make “flexible diamond clothing”? Ignoring the “diamond” part, just assume it’s mostly covalently bonded carbon of some form or other. Would putting nano-scale electrostatic motors and flex sensors in there help?
“Diamond fiber” is a common descriptor for carbon nanotubes, which are indeed flexible. At least as of this year, it’s become possible for us to make them on a macroscopic scale.
But a CNT isn’t diamond. Not at all! It’s got carbon in it, but CNTs are sp2 bonded, not sp3 bonded. This isn’t a diamond fiber anymore than the inside of a pencil is diamond fiber. The properties you would get expect out of a CNT are radically different than those you would expect out of a diamond fiber.
If we want to replace diamond fiber with CNT I can try and work through the implications of that, but they’re completely different physical systems.
Speaking as a layman, I would expect he’s thinking of some metamaterial made up partially of diamond, and partially of.. not-diamond. Diamond chainmail, to name a rather naive idea.
Is it possible to transition from sp3 to sp2 in a single crystal?
What, if you can place atoms arbitrarily, is the most useful thing you could do to make “flexible diamond clothing”? Ignoring the “diamond” part, just assume it’s mostly covalently bonded carbon of some form or other. Would putting nano-scale electrostatic motors and flex sensors in there help?