Superhard F-carbon predicted by ab initio particle-swarm optimization methodology.

A simple (5 + 6 + 7)-sp(3) carbon (denoted as F-carbon) with eight atoms per unit cell predicted by a newly developed ab initio particle-swarm optimization methodology on crystal structure prediction is proposed. F-carbon can be seen as the reconstruction of AA-stacked or 3R-graphite, and is energetically more stable than 2H-graphite beyond 13.9 GPa. Band structure and hardness calculations indicate that F-carbon is a transparent superhard carbon with a gap of 4.55 eV at 15 GPa and a hardness of 93.9 GPa at zero pressure. Compared with the previously proposed Bct-, M- and W-carbons, the simulative x-ray diffraction pattern of F-carbon also well matches the superhard intermediate phase of the experimentally cold-compressed graphite. The possible transition route and energy barrier were observed using the variable cell nudged elastic band method. Our simulations show that the cold compression of graphite can produce some reversible metastable carbons (e.g. M- and F-carbons) with energy barriers close to diamond or lonsdaleite.