Scientists from the Novosibirsk Nikolayev Inorganic Chemistry Institute and the Krasnoyarsk Biophysics Institute have invented a new composite material based on graphene and nano-diamonds, said the Nauka v Sibiri publication of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

They managed to tie up vertically aligned tubes of graphene, the flattest material in the world consisting of only one carbon atomic layer, with nano-diamonds on the tube's surface.

"The new composite material is unique: for instance, it glows under the impact of a weak electric field," the report said.

Nano-diamonds can glow in strong magnetic fields, and nano-tubes can amplify magnetic fields and intensify the glow, Inorganic Chemistry Institute researcher Julia Fedoseyeva said.

"In fact, this is the prototype of a tiny light fixture, a nano-tube with a glowing nano-diamond on top. Such structures can be used in a variety of spheres, from new types of displays to health diagnostics techniques," she said.

A technology of the production of modified nano-diamonds for various purposes has been developed by the Nano-Biotechnology and Bio-Luminescence Laboratory of the Biophysics Institute.

The research report was published by the magazine Scientific Reports of the Nature Publishing House.