Diamonds are forever but the future is lab-grown
The machine that helped CQUniversity's Dr Shaneel Chandra grow diamonds during his PhD wasn't a multimillion-dollar piece of futuristic equipment. It was a homemade system assembled from spare components, including a magnetron salvaged from a domestic microwave oven.
Less than two decades later, laboratory-grown diamonds have become one of the biggest disruptors the global diamond industry has ever seen.
As diamond mines close around the world and laboratory-grown diamonds continue to reshape the global market, Dr Chandra says the biggest transformation has little to do with jewellery – and everything to do with the future of technology.
CQUniversity Senior Lecturer in Chemistry Dr Shaneel Chandra says laboratory-grown diamonds have moved far beyond being an affordable alternative to mined gemstones and are rapidly emerging as one of the world's most promising advanced materials.
"Most people see this as a story about engagement rings, but jewellery is only part of the picture," Dr Chandra said.
"The bigger story is that we now have the ability to manufacture one of nature's most extraordinary materials with incredible precision, opening opportunities in electronics, quantum technologies, renewable energy, medicine and advanced manufacturing."
As traditional diamond producers grapple with declining demand and mine closures, laboratory-grown diamonds have moved from scientific curiosity to mainstream commercial product.
While they offer buyers a chemically identical diamond at a significantly lower price, Dr Chandra said the scientific breakthroughs behind the technology are even more significant.
"A laboratory-grown diamond is a real diamond," he said.
"It has the same crystal structure, chemical composition, hardness and optical properties as a mined diamond. The only real difference is its origin. One forms naturally over billions of years beneath the Earth's surface, while the other can be grown in a laboratory over weeks or months."
Dr Chandra knows the technology firsthand.
During his PhD research earlier, , he used Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) to grow diamonds atom by atom using hydrogen and methane gases, creating a plasma that deposited carbon onto a tiny diamond seed.
"It looked like something a PhD student would build, because that's exactly what it was," Dr Chandra said.
Despite its humble appearance, the homemade system demonstrated the extraordinary potential of laboratory-grown diamonds years before they became a commercial reality.
"It seems like only 15 years ago we were wondering whether the diamonds I was growing in a university laboratory would ever make their way onto someone's finger as a symbol of love or commitment," he said.
"Today they're sitting on the shelf in jewellery stores. That's an extraordinary transformation in less than two decades."
While jewellery has accelerated commercial interest, Dr Chandra believes the greatest impact will be felt in industries where diamond's unique properties can solve complex engineering challenges.
Diamond is one of the hardest known materials, conducts heat exceptionally well, resists chemical degradation and can be engineered with remarkable precision.
Those characteristics make it attractive for applications ranging from high-performance electronics and semiconductors to quantum technologies, medical devices and renewable energy systems.
"In quantum computing, specially engineered defects inside diamond crystals can be used as quantum sensors and may even contribute to future quantum computers," Dr Chandra said.
"In medicine, diamond coatings are attracting interest because they're durable, chemically stable and compatible with the human body. In electronics, their ability to remove heat efficiently could help create faster and more reliable devices."
Dr Chandra said the rapid rise of laboratory-grown diamonds demonstrates how scientific discoveries can evolve from niche research into mainstream technologies.
"Fifteen years ago, many people thought laboratory-grown diamonds would remain a specialised industrial material with limited commercial relevance," he said.
"Today, people can walk into a shopping centre and buy one.
"That transition has been remarkable, but I think we're only seeing the beginning. As the technology continues to mature, laboratory-grown diamonds could become an increasingly important material underpinning many of tomorrow's technologies.
"Jewellery may be what introduces most people to laboratory-grown diamonds, but I think history will remember them not for engagement rings, but for the technologies they helped make possible."
