L.J. Ellison¹ D.J. Michel² F. Barmes³ and D.J. Cleaver¹

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 97, 237801 (2006)

¹Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB, United Kingdom.
²Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
³Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire, 46 allée d’Italie, 69007 Lyon, France.

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 both on compression of an isotropic configuration and on expansion of a smectic A bilayer arrangement. For the latter case, it is possible identify the steps by which the topological transformation from non-intersecting planes to fully interpenetrating, periodic networks takes place.

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