Density functional calculations are used to systematically evaluate phase stabilities and mechanical properties of two recently proposed carbon crystals (K4 and M-carbon), along with graphite, cubic diamond and hexagonal diamond. It is found that the K4 carbon, which can be referred to as a twin of the cubic diamond crystal, is mechanically unstable, implying that it cannot be formed. Remarkably, our calculations not only substantiate the M-carbon phase is a highly incompressible and potentially superhard material but also show that it exhibits mechanical stability. Moreover, a surprisingly small activation barrier (about 0.018 eV/atom) for the transformation of M-carbon to graphite explains some paradoxical experimental observations.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/87/56003