Mitigating the Bubble

@whostolethebatmobile ,

Early in this thread (or earlier) I gave some of my background which is solid state physics current working on materials science for batteries and previously semiconductors. I won’t bore you with my degrees.

This is the problem when charlatans and good intentioned reference things they lack the background to understand. Diamond is an insulator. Detonantion diamonds even with a carbon layer, or gold surface treatment (they are working on that to improve lateral flow tests -- think Covid rapid tests), are still poor conductors. The conductive layer is thin compared to the bulk. Most of the conductivity comes from surface area, though in plastics you have different mechanisms.

A more appropriate article to reference is this one:

Conductivity of detonation microdiamond under pressure

The initial electrical conductivities were 2.5 × 10⁻⁵ and 2.5 × 10⁻⁷ Ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹ under atmospheric conditions and in vacuo, respectively,

Note that higher value is from absorbing water (hard to do in oil).

Other studies showed even larger variation

The G value changed from 10⁻¹² to 10⁻⁵ Ohm⁻¹·cm⁻¹ at relative humidity range from 0% to 95%.

Since you are educating me on nanodiamonds and conductivity, perhaps you could relate these numbers to how they compare to copper?

Does it occur to people that there are people who understand these things in detail, certainly far better than some internet charlatan?

deludedaudiophile, although nanodiamonds can assist conductivity, I am not convinced that the conductivity of nanodiamonds is particularly important for audio. I don’t even believe Nano-Flo is a contact enhancer. But I think it’s important to acknowledge that nanodiamonds are not always insulators, when that assertion has been the basis of your dismissal of their potential.

@whostolethebatmobile ,

I assume those numbers did not mean anything to you.

Within the context of a contact enhancer, they absolutely are absolutely always insulators. Sans atmospheric moisture, they are for all intents and purposes, an excellent insulator. Even with atmospheric moisture, they are still about a Billion times less conductive as a bulk material compared to copper. I generally think of something a billion times less conductive than copper as an insulator.

As a bulk material? Who cares about the bulk material? It's the surface chemistry that is of interest.

@whostolethebatmobile , stop trying to look like you know what you are talking about.

In the very best conductor surfaces, you are talking surface roughness 200+ nm. With audio connectors, I expect 2+uM. Nanodiamonds are <10nm, so we are talking at least 260+ stacked to fill in the voids (they are round), and that is assuming 100% material, but this is an oil carrier with indeterminate active material, so who knows what you will get. What you won't get is any improvement in conductivity beyond maybe, just maybe, some whiping of an oxide layer, but ... for that you would be much better off with something larger and angular as these would not cut through the oxide layer .. it's a fail all around.