echun Xu

Multiporous carbon allotropes transformed from symmetry-matched carbon nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with homogeneous diameters have been proven to transform into new carbon allotropes under pressure but no studies on the compression of inhomogeneous CNTs have been reported. In this study, we propose to build new carbon allotropes from the bottom-up by applying pressure on symmetry-matched inhomogeneous CNTs. We find that the (3,0) CNT with point group C3v and the (6,0) CNT with point group C6v form an all sp3 hybridized hexagonal 3060-Carbon crystal, but the (4,0) CNT with point group D4h and the (8,0) CNT with point group D8h polymerize into a sp2+sp3 hybridized tetragonal 4080-Carbon structure. Their thermodynamic, mechanical and dynamic stabilities show that they are potential carbon allotropes to be experimentally synthesized. The multiporous structures, excellently mechanical properties and special electronic structures (semiconductive 3060-Carbon and semimetallic 4080-Carbon) imply their many potential applications, such as gases purification, hydrogen storage and lightweig...

Chirality control of nonplanar lead phthalocyanine (PbPc) and its potential application in high-density storage: a theoretical investigation.

On single-crystal surfaces, achiral molecules may become chiral owing to confinement in two dimensions (2D). Metal phthalocyanines (MPcs) on Cu(001) and Ag(100) surfaces have exhibited a chiral electronic state. However, the chirality is not always desirable since crystal defects (grain boundaries) inevitably occur between two different chiral domains during the self-assembly of single layers. In this theoretical study, we propose to utilize metal(001) substrates with different electron configurations to mediate the azimuthal orientations of nonplanar PbPc. The results show that PbPc is chiral on Cu(001) with a partially filled s orbital (3d(10)4s(1)) but achiral on Pd(001) with a completely filled d orbital (4d(10)). The mechanism that PbPc prefers achiral azimuthal orientation rather than chiral orientation on Pd(001) is clarified. In addition, we predict that PbPc can form a (3 × 4) surface reconstruction. While it is used for data storage, the capacity is almost three orders of magnitude higher than the present storage materials.

Superhard BC2N: an Orthogonal Crystal Obtained by Transversely Compressing (3,0)-CNTs and (3,0)-BNNTs*

By means of density functional theory calculations, an orthogonal boron-carbon-nitrogen compound called (3,0)-BC2N is predicted, which can be obtained by transversely compressing (3,0) carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs). Its structural stability, elastic properties, mechanical properties and electronic structure are systematically investigated. The results show that (3,0)-BC2N is a superhard material with a direct bandgap. However, its similar structures, (3,0)-C and (3,0)-BN are indirect semiconductors. Strikingly, (3,0)-C is harder than diamond. We also simulate the x-ray diffraction of (3,0)-BC2N to support future experimental investigations. In addition, our study shows that the transition from (3,0) CNTS and BNNTs to (3,0)-BC2N is irreversible.