Scientist designed a new material that's as hard as diamonds yet thin and flexible like foil.
Researchers at the City of New York's Advanced Science Research Center wanted to create a bulletproof material that wasn't as bulky or heavy as modern protective armor.
They turned to graphene: a tightly-packed layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a honeycomb pattern 1 million times thinner than a single sheet of paper.
Researchers stacked two layers of graphene on top of each other.
The resulting material was soft and pliable. But when pressure is applied, it became as stiff as diamonds, according to study published December 18 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The study notes that the diamond-hard resistance only works with two layers of graphene - no more, no less. Researchers call the new material "diamene". It could one day be used to develop ultra-light bulletproof armor.
