Pressure-induced interlinking of carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We predict new forms of carbon consisting of one- and two-dimensional networks of interlinked single-wall carbon nanotubes, some of which are energetically more stable than van der Waals packing of the nanotubes on a hexagonal lattice. These interlinked nanotubes are further transformed with higher applied external pressures to more dense and complicated stable structures, in which curvature-induced carbon sp3 rehybridizations are formed. We also discuss the energetics of the bond formation between nanotubes and the electronic properties of these predicted novel structures.