Synthesis of covalent carbon—nitride solids: Alternatives to diamond?

Covalent carbon nitride has been produced for the first time. Binary carbon‐nitrogen solids are an important synthetic goal, since although β‐C 3 N 4 , has been predicted to have a hardness comparable to or greater than diamond, it cannot be produced by traditional solid‐state chemistry methods. The novel approach described here combines pulsed laser ablation with a high‐flux atomic beam. From comparisons with calculated diffraction patterns, it is inferred that crystalline β‐C 3 N 4 , has been synthesized, although in an impure form.