Pressure-Induced Interlinking of Carbon Nanotubes

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 sp${}^3$ re-hybridizations are formed. We also discuss the energetics of the bond formation between nanotubes and the electronic properties of these predicted novel structures.