Small diamonds are created from plastic bottles by scientists using laser flashes.

In a major development, researchers have created small diamonds out of plastic bottles using laser flashes and have even hypothesised that diamonds may be falling from the sky on planets throughout the universe. Science Advances published the study.

Common plastic has been used by scientists to simulate the precipitation that is thought to originate deep inside Uranus and Neptune. The unusual process of creating diamonds might also contribute to reducing the amount of plastic garbage we produce.

In the past, scientists theorised that millions of kilometres beneath the surface of the ice giants, hydrogen and carbon are transformed into solid diamonds by extraordinarily high pressure and temperature. According to the most recent studies, ‘diamond rain’ might be more widespread than previously believed.

Dominik Kraus, a physicist at the HZDR research facility in Germany, claimed that diamond precipitation was very dissimilar from rain on Earth. One of the authors of the study is Kraus.

The production of nanodiamonds was a difficult procedure that required extremely high pressures. The research team discovered the required proportion of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in PET plastic, a material that is widely accessible. For the uninitiated, PET is used for bottles and everyday food packaging.

Using the aforementioned material, Siegfried Glenzer and his colleagues at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California discovered that diamonds can be created under far less harsh circumstances.