Furthermore, the technique doesn’t require high temperatures or intense pressure and are made from “scratch” with the potential to revolutionise the diamond industry by providing unlimited micro-diamonds for polishing and cutting uses.

Gemstones are formed typically by intense heat, intense pressure, natural catalysts, or some combination of the three. Diamonds require an awful lot of the first two to manufacture artificially, but Rodney Ruoff, a physical chemist at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea, has eliminated that necessity.