Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Gyroid Nickel Nanostructures from Diblock Copolymer Supramolecules
Published on: April 28, 2014
Entropy-driven formation of the gyroid cubic phase
L J Ellison1, D J Michel, F Barmes
1Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We show, by computer simulation, that tapered or pear-shaped particles, interacting through purely repulsive interactions, can freely self-assemble to form the three-dimensionally periodic, gyroid cubic phase. The Ia3d gyroid cubic phase is formed by these particles on both compression of an isotropic configuration and expansion of a smectic A bilayer arrangement. For the latter case, it is possible to identify the steps by which the topological transformation from nonintersecting planes to fully interpenetrating, periodic networks takes place.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Phase Transitions: Sublimation and Deposition
Phase Diagrams of Ternary Systems
Phase Transitions
Phase Transitions
Ziegler–Natta Chain-Growth Polymerization: Overview

