Lonsdaleite Films with Nanometer Thickness

We investigate the properties of potentially the stiffest quasi-2-D films with lonsdaleite structure. Using a combination of ab initio and empirical potential approaches, we analyze the elastic properties of lonsdaleite films in both elastic and inelastic regimes and compare them with graphene and diamond films. We review possible fabrication methods of lonsdaleite films using the pure nanoscale "bottom-up" paradigm: by connecting carbon layers in multilayered graphene. We propose the realization of this method in two ways: by applying direct pressure and by using the recently proposed chemically induced phase transition. For both cases, we construct the phase diagrams depending on temperature, pressure, and film thickness. Finally, we consider the electronic properties of lonsdaleite films and establish the nonlinear dependence of the band gap on the films' thicknesses and their lower effective masses in comparison with bulk crystal.