Posted by axxxr
Nokia has been experimenting with plastic casings coated with a diamond-like material made from coa. The material is more protective and grime resistant, as well as cheap and bio-degradable.
The coating is very tough, but also smooth to the touch. It is also conductive and therefore antistatic, so does not attract dirt easily.
To make the material electric current is fed through coal graphite. This creates plasma, which is directed towards a plastic casing by high-voltage electrodes. The coal ions penetrate the surface and bond to form an amorphous, diamond-like coating less than 100 nanometres thick. The process works at room temperature, meaning even cheap plastics can be coated this way.