Diamonds may not be forever, but research interest in diamond has never ebbed. Owing to its highly symmetric crystal structure and strong covalent C–C bonds, diamond possesses an exceptional combination of physical properties. Its hardness and thermal conductivity are the highest among covalent materials. It also has a large bandgap and electric breakdown field, as well as optical transparency over a wide range of wavelengths. All of these are essential for a wide range of applications in both industrial and scientific areas. Despite these outstanding advantages, however, diamond is extremely brittle, with inferior toughness and poor deformability. These shortcomings have caused undesired tool breakage and have imposed severe constraints on technological innovations. To surmount these intrinsic deficiencies, tremendous research effort has been dedicated to developing advanced diamond products, with great progress being achieved in the past few years.

中文翻译：

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钻石变得更硬、更坚韧、更易变形

钻石可能不会永远存在，但对钻石的研究兴趣从未消退。由于其高度对称的晶体结构和强大的共价 C-C 键，金刚石具有特殊的物理特性组合。其硬度和导热性是共价材料中最高的。它还具有大的带隙和电击穿场，以及在很宽的波长范围内的光学透明度。所有这些对于工业和科学领域的广泛应用都是必不可少的。尽管有这些突出的优点，但金刚石非常脆，韧性差，变形能力差。这些缺点造成了不希望的刀具破损，并严重制约了技术创新。为了克服这些内在缺陷，