Narayan, Q-carbon company place as 2017 R&D 100 Winner

Dr. Jagdish Narayan, John C. C. Fan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at North Carolina State University, and his company spun out from his invention Q-carbon, Q-Carbon LLC, have placed as a winner in the R&D 100 Awards.

Narayan announced the invention of Q-carbon in 2015. Q-carbon is a new phase of solid carbon that is distinct from the known phases of graphite and diamond and can be used to produce diamond at room temperature and at ambient air pressure. The Q-carbon is harder than diamond and shows high-temperature superconductivity upon doping with boron.

The R&D 100 Awards have served as a prestigious innovation awards program for the past 55 years and honor great R&D pioneers and their revolutionary ideas in science and technology. Q-Carbon LLC is one of the 100 top innovations awarded by R&D this year.

Narayan is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society; the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society; AAAS; APS; ASM International; and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a winner of the Acta Materialia Gold Medal, the ASM Gold Medal, the TMS RF Mehl Gold Medal and the North Carolina Award in Science, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the state of North Carolina.