Method of producing a synthetic diamond
A method of producing a synthetic diamond is disclosed. The method includes (a) capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; (b) conducting electrolysis of water to provide hydrogen; (c) reacting the carbon dioxide obtained from step (a) with the hydrogen obtained from step (b) to produce methane; and (d) using the hydrogen obtained from step (b) and the methane obtained from step (c) to produce a synthetic diamond by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
1. A method of producing a synthetic diamond, the method comprising:
(a) capturing carbon dioxide from an atmosphere;
(b) performing electrolysis of water to provide hydrogen;
(c) reacting the carbon dioxide obtained from step (a) with the hydrogen obtained from step (b) to produce methane; and
(d) using the hydrogen obtained from step (b) and the methane obtained from step (c) to produce a synthetic diamond by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises capturing carbon dioxide using an amine-containing sorbent-material.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein capturing carbon dioxide using the amine-containing sorbent material is conducted at a temperature below 25° C.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the captured carbon dioxide is subsequently released by heating the amine-containing sorbent material.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (b) comprises performing the electrolysis of water using at least one polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) cell.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the electrolysis is performed at a temperature below 150° C.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reaction of step (c) is performed using methanogens.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the methanogens are prokaryotes.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the prokaryotes are archaea.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CVD is carried out at a pressure of between 0.5 kPa and 100 kPa.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CVD is carried out at a temperature between 700° C. and 1000° C.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of hydrogen to methane used in step (d) is in a range from 1:1 to 9:1.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CVD is carried out on a substrate comprising diamond.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises using energy from at least one renewable source to perform at least one of the steps (a)-(d).
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises using energy from at least one renewable source to perform the electrolysis.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the water comprises rainwater.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises an additional step, after step (d), of annealing the synthetic diamond.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises an additional step of at least one of cutting and polishing the diamond produced in step (d).