Nanodiamond Glass with Rubber Bond in Natural Rubber

Nanodiamond glass is an amorphous solid consisting of nanodiamond as a nanoparticle. The several-nm-space between the nanodiamonds is filled with a medium that reversibly deforms and recovers. Hence, nanodiamonds linked in the medium are arranged in several-nm intervals. To prepare the nanodiamond glass, nanodiamonds are dispersed as inorganic nanoparticles with highly reactive functional groups into natural rubber as an incompressible medium exhibiting reversible deformation and recovery. Nanodiamond glass can be distinguished from nanodiamond-filled rubber, which exhibits ordinary entropic elasticity. Natural rubber particles dispersed in water (i.e., latex) are used to prepare nanodiamond glass, chemically embed nanodiamonds onto the surface of the natural rubber particles, and subsequently attach the surfaces together to achieve close packing of the nanodiamonds. Increasing the modulus of natural rubber constrained in the nanospaces ensures the energetic elasticity of nanodiamond glass. This work demonstrates that nanodiamond glass with energetic elasticity is a new research field.