Formation of diamond in carbon onions under MeV ion irradiation

Wesołowski, P.; Lyutovich, Y.; Banhart, Florian; Carstanjen, H. D.; Kronmüller, H.

doi:10.1063/1.119990

Cited by 107 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…284 Besides this, ordering of fullerene thin films under highenergy ion irradiation ͑200 MeV Au and 60 MeV Ni ions͒ has been reported, 66 probably due to effects of ion-beam heating and a vanishingly small probability for defect production in a very thin target. Besides this, fullerene films irradiated with 250 keV Ar and 92 MeV Si ions showed magnetic response, 285 as evidenced by magnetic measurements using a superconducting quantum interference device and magnetic force microscopy.…”

Section: Ion Irradiation Of Fullerenes and Fullerene-nanotube Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It had been earlier shown that closed-shell carbon nanostructures, such as carbon onions, can act as self-contracting high-pressure cells under electron 6 and ion 284 irradiation, and that high pressure buildup in the onion cores can even induce graphitediamond transformations ͑see Ref. 72 for a review͒.…”

Section: E Irradiated Carbon Nanotubes and Onions As Highpressure Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ion and electron irradiation-induced effects in nanostructured materials

Krasheninnikov¹,

Nordlund²

2010

Journal of Applied Physics

932

591

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A common misconception is that the irradiation of solids with energetic electrons and ions has exclusively detrimental effects on the properties of target materials. In addition to the well-known cases of doping of bulk semiconductors and ion beam nitriding of steels, recent experiments show that irradiation can also have beneficial effects on nanostructured systems. Electron or ion beams may serve as tools to synthesize nanoclusters and nanowires, change their morphology in a controllable manner, and tailor their mechanical, electronic, and even magnetic properties. Harnessing irradiation as a tool for modifying material properties at the nanoscale requires having the full microscopic picture of defect production and annealing in nanotargets. In this article, we review recent progress in the understanding of effects of irradiation on various zero-dimensional and one-dimensional nanoscale systems, such as semiconductor and metal nanoclusters and nanowires, nanotubes, and fullerenes. We also consider the two-dimensional nanosystem graphene due to its similarity with carbon nanotubes. We dwell on both theoretical and experimental results and discuss at length not only the physics behind irradiation effects in nanostructures but also the technical applicability of irradiation for the engineering of nanosystems.

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Section: Ion Irradiation Of Fullerenes and Fullerene-nanotube Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: E Irradiated Carbon Nanotubes and Onions As Highpressure Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion and electron irradiation-induced effects in nanostructured materials

Krasheninnikov¹,

Nordlund²

2010

Journal of Applied Physics

932

591

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“…As more atoms are added, sp 3 -rich domains emerge and grow towards the center. There they fuse and form a highly fourfold-coordinated condensate as is indicated in Table I by the large fraction of Figure 3 shows the total number of sp 3 -hybridized atoms in the largest sp 3 -bonded cluster during the addition. The neighboring atoms are considered to belong to a same cluster if they share a sp 3 bond.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 Further electron or heavy ion irradiation causes the fullerenes to transform into diamond near their centers. 2,3 The irradiation process is viewed to induce knockon displacements, collision cascades, and flux of C atoms towards the core, resulting in increase in the particle density, local pressure, and temperature. Finally, the conditions become preferable for the nucleation of diamond.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulations of diamond nucleation in carbon fullerene cores

et al. 2001

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Recent experiments have shown that heavy ion or electron irradiation induces the nucleation of diamond crystallites inside concentric nested carbon fullerenes, i.e., bucky onions. This suggests that the fullerene acts as a nanoscopic pressure shell. In this paper we study the formation of tetrahedrally bonded carbon inside a prototype icosahedral two-shell fullerene by means of atomic-scale computer simulations. After the simulated irradiation, we can identify regions in which almost all carbon atoms become sp 3 bonded. Additionally, we observe a counteracting tendency for the carbon atoms to form shell-like substructures. To shift the balance between these two processes towards diamond nucleation strongly nonequilibrium conditions are required. It has been discovered that fullerenes can form multilayered onion structures, when carbon soot is irradiated by electrons.1 Further electron or heavy ion irradiation causes the fullerenes to transform into diamond near their centers. 2,3The irradiation process is viewed to induce knockon displacements, collision cascades, and flux of C atoms towards the core, resulting in increase in the particle density, local pressure, and temperature. Finally, the conditions become preferable for the nucleation of diamond. It is necessary for the nucleation that the onion shells possess enough rigidity to withstand the increase in pressure and temperature in order to prevent a relaxation towards a graphitic core. Zaiser and Banhart 4 have presented a thermodynamical quasiequilibrium theory to explain this irradiation-induced transformation to diamond. In this paper, we report results of atomic simulations of the collision-induced phenomena inside carbon fullerenes. These show the nucleation and growth of diamondlike structures.The simulations are performed using the densityfunctional-based tight-binding method ͑DF-TB͒.5, 6 The method has been successfully applied for studies of various systems in particular for carbon clusters such as small molecules, hydrocarbons, fullerenes, 5 and extended allotropes such as amorphous and crystalline structures. 7 Here we study the diamond nucleation process inside the smallest ideal carbon onion which consists of 300 atoms. This onion consists of two concentric fullerene shells, a C 60 ball and a surrounding icosahedral C 240 shell with average radii of 3.6 and 7.1 Å, respectively. We consider this low-energy allotrope as a likely core of real giant fullerenes and simulate the release of atoms due to knockon displacements in outer shells and their transport to this core by a sequence of random atom additions with zero initial velocities. The structural evolution is examined using a combination of molecular dynamics ͑MD͒ and a conjugate-gradient ͑CG͒ optimization technique and in dependence upon the number of ͑interstitial͒ atoms during an ad hoc injection.To speed up the very demanding calculations, the fullerene core has originally been seeded with a ten-atomic cluster consisting of two interconnected five-membered rings. We find this atomic arra...

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“…However, no cauliflowertype structures have ever been observed among furnaceproduced carbon black particles, many of which have experienced grain-grain collisions near the speed of sound. It seems more likely that the onions would have produced diamonds at their centers instead, which they do when powerfully irradiated with electrons or ions (Banhart & Ajayan 1996;Banhart et al 1997;Wesolowski et al 1997). …”

Section: Calculations and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%