Abstract
Although various allotropes of carbon (e.g., diamond, nanotubes, graphene, etc.) are among the best known materials, it remains challenging to stabilize carbon in the one-dimensional form because of the difficulty to suitably saturate the dangling bonds of carbon. Here, we show through first- principles calculations that ordered polymeric carbon chains can be stabilized in solid Li2C2 under pressure. This pressure-induced phase (above 5 GPa), consisting of parallel arrays of twofold zigzag carbon chains embedded in the lithium cages, is found to be metallic, as this phase is stabilized by the presence of partially occupied carbon lone-pair states in sp2 like hybrids. With the increasing stability of near-tetrahedral sp3-like hybrids at higher pressures, an insulating cubic phase with the single-bonded threefold-coordinated carbon network is formed above 215 GPa.