Mechanism of carbon onion transformation into diamond-like structure

The formation of diamond-like structure in the carbon onion core was modeled by the molecular-dynamics method. The stages of this transformation (formation of holes in the fullerene shells and their healing accompanied by a decrease in the interlayer spacing in onion; accumulation of “free” atoms in the core and formation of new shells by these atoms; and core transformation under the action of these modified shells and temperature) adequately describe the main features of the Banhart and Ajayan observations.