Electron-phonon interactions in solid C36

Among the experimentally observed structures of molecular C-36, OUT calculations show that the structure with D-6h symmetry is one of the two most energetically favorable. Based on this result and the fact that D-6h is conducive to forming a periodic system, we propose a new solid phase of carbon using C-36 fullerenes as a basis. Full structural relaxations and electronic density of states are evaluated using an ab initio pseudopotential plane wave method within the local density approximation. The calculated electron-phonon interaction potential is found to be substantially enhanced compared to C-60, leading to the possibility of larger superconducting transition temperatures than in alkali-doped C-60 solids.