Templated synthesis of cubic crystalline single networks having large open-space lattices by polymer cubosomes

The synthesis of biophotonic crystals of insects, cubic crystalline single networks of chitin having large open-space lattices, requires the selective diffusion of monomers into only one of two non-intersecting water-channel networks embedded within the template, ordered smooth endoplasmic reticulum (OSER). Here we show that the topology of the circumferential bilayer of polymer cubosomes (PCs)—polymeric analogues to lipid cubic membranes and complex biological membranes—differentiate between two non-intersecting pore networks embedded in the cubic mesophase by sealing one network at the interface. Consequently, single networks having large lattice parameters (>240 nm) are synthesized by cross-linking of inorganic precursors within the open network of the PCs. Our results pave the way to create triply periodic structures of open-space lattices as photonic crystals and metamaterials without relying on complex multi-step fabrication. Our results also suggest a possible answer for how biophotonic single cubic networks are created, using OSER as templates.