Abstract
We describe how carbon, threefold coordinated by other carbons, can be replaced by carbon, also threefold carbon coordinated, to produce extremely small-diameter ( ) carbon nanowires with only minimal bond-angle distortion. Under a naming convention analogous to that for ordinary carbon nanotubes, the smallest tubes have wrapping indices and . These systems have large band gaps and a stiffness larger even than that of traditional -bonded carbon nanotubes. They therefore form the stiffest one-dimensional systems known.
- Received 30 March 2001
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.125502
©2001 American Physical Society