The increased availability of diamonds due to industrial production have extended their use beyond jewelry and abrasives.  Their properties make possible their potential use as semiconductors suitable for building microchips, and as  heat sinks in electronics.  When made fluorescent, their applications extend into such realms as high tech sensors, and bit manipulation for quantum computing.

On the micro (10^-6) and nano (10^-9) scale, their unique properties make diamonds ideal for biomedical purposes.  They are easily sterilized, are non-toxic, and their surfaces are easily functionalized for attachment of proteins. Their lubricity, which causes the diamond crystals to slide like ice against each other, can provide a durable, bio-compatible, non-wearing surface for artificial joints.  And fluorescent diamonds, when emitting in the near infrared region of the spectrum, can provide deep tissue imaging without background interference or photo-bleaching.