Flexible Diamond Generates Electricity... Discovery Challenges a Century-Old Scientific Belief
A recent scientific report published on ScienceDaily on Monday revealed that ultra-thin, flexible diamond membranes can generate a stable electrical voltage when bent, challenging a long-standing scientific belief that has persisted for over a century that diamond is not piezoelectric. The report is based on a study conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and published in the journal Science Advances last March.
The study was led by a team from the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Engineering. The researchers successfully fabricated ultra-thin, flexible polycrystalline diamond membranes and subjected them to repeated bending tests, which demonstrated the generation of stable and repeatable voltage signals.
The team conducted tests under controlled conditions to rule out the influence of environmental factors or triboelectricity, thereby strengthening the evidence that the recorded signals were due to the piezoelectric effect within the diamond membranes themselves.
The results showed that the strength of the piezoelectric response varied depending on the membrane’s thickness, with the strongest response recorded in membranes approximately 5 micrometers thick.
These first-principles calculations attributed this unexpected property to asymmetry at the grain boundaries in the polycrystalline diamond membranes. Mechanical deformation alters the electric polarization near these boundaries, creating a voltage difference between the two surfaces of the membrane.
Researchers believe this discovery could pave the way for future applications of diamond membranes in energy harvesting, smart sensors, wearable electronics, and implantable medical devices that can function as self-powered energy sources or motion and deformation sensors, as well as in ultra-low-power systems and self-powered sensing technologies.
The study, titled “Unveiling the Piezoelectric Effect in Polycrystalline Diamond Membranes,” was published in Science Advances on March 18, 2026. The report published on August 31 highlighted its findings and potential applications.
