High-pressure polymerized phases of C60 Review Article

Data from recent experimental studies of C60 under high pressures are collected and analyzed, concentrating on the polymerized states where covalent intermolecular bonds have been formed through treatment of molecular C60 at high pressures and temperatures at or above room temperature. We give an overview of the observed phase transformations and the structures of metastable polymeric phases, both crystalline and disordered, as analyzed under ambient conditions, and we present and discuss a pressure-temperature diagram showing which synthesis conditions result in which final phases in the pressure range up to 20 GPa (200 kbar) and at temperatures up to 2300 K. The physical properties of the various phases are discussed whenever enough data are available. The pressure-temperature stability limits for C60 and the conditions for the transformation of C60 into graphite, diamond and chaoite-type carbon are derived.