Depending on the antimony/surfactant ratio of the starting mixture and the pH, which is adjusted by adding slowly a diluted HBr solution to the clear starting mixture of pH = 7, three different mesophases could be synthesized. Decreasing
the pH of the starting mixture with a [Sb(OH)-/ C18H37(CH3)3N+ ratio of 10:1 to pH 6.7-6.8 resulted in the cubic antimony oxide mesophase, while lowering the pH further (6.2-6.5) led to the hexagonal phase.