title: Predicting the orientation of lipid cubic phase films.
abstract: Lipid cubic phase films are of increasingly widespread importance, both in the analysis of the cubic phases themselves by techniques including microscopy and X-ray scattering, and in their applications, especially as electrode coatings for electrochemical sensors and for templates for the electrodeposition of nanostructured metal. In this work we demonstrate that the crystallographic orientation adopted by these films is governed by minimization of interfacial energy. This is shown by the agreement between experimental data obtained using grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GI-SAXS), and the predicted lowest energy orientation determined using a theoretical approach we have recently developed. GI-SAXS data show a high degree of orientation for films of both the double diamond phase and the gyroid phase, with the [111] and [110] directions respectively perpendicular to the planar substrate. In each case, this matches the lowest energy facet calculated for that particular phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Reading , Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Samuel J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Staniec
authors.forename: Gemma E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Newby
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Terrill
authors.forename: Joanne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Adam M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Squires
authors.forename: Wojciech T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Góźdź