Hydrothermal Synthesis of Diamond: Challenges and Opportunities

Here we report hydrothermal synthesis of diamond from different precursors with and without the use of diamond seeds. Raman evidence of the diamond formation is presented. SiC, organic compounds and amorphous carbon are used as sources of carbon for diamond synthesis. This finding is in agreement with previously published data on diamond growth at low pressures and can have a significant scientific and technological potential as a new method for producing diamond powders, films and, probably, large single crystals. However, the synthesized diamond crystals apparently are very small and the yield of diamond is low.