A triple-network tricontinuous cubic liquid crystal
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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Xiangbing Zeng1, Goran Ungar, Marianne Impéror-Clerc
1Department of Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK. x.zeng@shef.ac.uk
Abstract:
Soft matter such as surfactant-water systems, block copolymers or liquid crystals can form periodic structures on nanometre to micrometre scales. This property can be used for templating nanoporous ceramics, surface patterning for electronic devices, or generation of photonic materials. Much attention has been paid to structures appearing between the layer and cylinder phases, the three so-called bicontinuous cubic phases. These are formed by two continuous interpenetrating networks of channels. In this article we describe a related phase, which has the first reported structure consisting of three interpenetrating infinite networks. It is a thermotropic (solvent-free) liquid crystal of cubic symmetry Im3m. The structure is one of the most complex in liquid crystals, and is determined by direct Fourier reconstruction of electron density. We discuss the possible rationale for the existence of such a phase, its structural relationship with the bicontinuous phases, and its position in the phase diagram.
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