title: Self-assembled geometric liquid-crystalline nanoparticles imaged in three dimensions: hexosomes are not necessarily flat hexagonal prisms.
abstract: Attempts to understand the complex 3D morphology of non-lamellar liquid-crystalline nanostructured particles, formed by the dispersion of a reversed hexagonal phase (hexosomes) and bicontinuous cubic phase (cubosomes) in water, have been limited by the lack of suitable 3D imaging techniques. Using cryo-field emission scanning electron microscopy, we show that whereas the structure of cubosomes generally reflects that anticipated from modeling approaches, hexosomes, which were previously proposed to be flat hexagonal prisms, in fact often possess a "spinning-top-like" structure, which is likely to influence their interactions with surfaces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutics, Victorian College of Pharmacy, Monash University, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. ben.boyd@vcp.monash.edu.au
authors.forename: Ben J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Boyd
authors.forename: Shakila B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Rizwan
authors.forename: Yao-Da
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hook
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rades
mesh_terms: D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water