Fig. 3.
Metastability of super-swelled bicontinuous cubic phases. (A) Integrated SAXS data obtained for the GMO/DOTAP/GMOPEG (95/4/1) system at original hydration (black line). This sample is subjected to water removal and subsequent rehydration (red line). SAXS scans reveal that rehydration does not affect phase symmetry (QIIP), but it results in smaller unit cells, from a = 68.4 to a = 30.2 nm. (B) SAXS scans of a super-swelled primitive cubic phase (GMO/DOTAP/GMOPEG 95/4/1) showing increasingly ordered structures over time (fresh vs. 3 mo). arb. u., arbitrary units.