Coherent coexistence of nanodiamonds and carbon onions in icosahedral core-shell particles.

The general approach for describing and designing complex hierarchical icosahedral structures is discussed. Structural models of icosahedral carbon nanoparticles in which the local arrangement of atoms is virtually identical to that in diamond are derived. It is shown that icosahedral diamond-like particles can be transformed into onion-like shell structures (and vice versa) by the consecutive smoothing (puckering) of atomic networks without disturbance of their topological integrity.