By applying extreme pressure to compress and flatten carbon nanotubes, scientists have discovered that they can create a new carbon polymer that simulations show is hard enough to crack diamond. The pressure-induced formation process of the new carbon allotrope, called Cco-C8, is similar to the 3D polymerization of the soccer-ball-like buckminsterfullerene, C60, at high pressure. When the carbon nanotube bundle is subjected to further compression, it becomes even more distorted and flattened to produce the Cco-C8 structure.
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