For over a 100 years, diamonds were considered incapable of producing electricity — one new experiment in Hong Kong has changed that

For more than a century, diamond has been prized for what it can withstand — not for its ability to produce electricity. That assumption may now need to change.

Scientists at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have discovered that extremely thin and flexible diamond membranes can generate an electrical response when they are mechanically deformed. The finding challenges the long-held view that diamond cannot produce electricity through the piezoelectric effect.