Novel crystalline carbon-cage structure synthesized from laser-driven shock wave loading of graphite

摘要

We report a novel crystalline carbon-cage structure synthesized from laser-driven shock wave loading of a graphite-copper mixture to about 14+-2 GPa and 1000+-200 K.Quite unexpectedly,it can be structurally related to an extremely compressed three-dimensional C_60 polymer with random displacement of C atoms around average positions equivalent to those of distorted C_60 cages.Thus,the present carbon-cage structure represents a structural crossing point between graphite interlayer bridging and C_60 polymerization as the two ways of forming diamond from two-dimensional and molecular carbon.