金刚石、石墨和卡宾碳是三种常见的碳同素异构体,其外层轨道价电子分别是以sp^3-,sp^2-和sp^1-形式杂化而成的.1991年,Hirai等在研究金刚石的形成机理时,发现了一种新的碳同素异构体,并将其命名为新金刚石(new-diamond),在许多实验过程中虽然也曾获得过新金刚石,但是这些实验获得的新金刚石的样品产量都较少,且新金刚石的颗粒尺寸都很小(小于100nm),
After the pyrogenation of carbon black and nanometer-sized iron catalyst at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 1 100℃, new-diamond nanometer-particles were synthesized. The new-diamond was analyzed by X-ray diffraction(XRD). The lattice constant of the new-diamond is determined as 0. 359 4 nm. Based on the ab initio principle of density functional theory, the electronic structure of the new-diamond was investigated. The results indicate that the new-diamond is a metallic form of carbon.