Extended Data Fig. 1: Melting temperature curves for the synthesis of the crystals and their SAXS patterns.

a, Melting temperature curves for solutions of A and B-type PAEs. A cooling rate of 0.1 °C/120 min was applied over the crystallization temperature range (shaded region) that encompasses the aggregation temperatures of the PAEs. b,c, SAXS patterns of BCC crystals (b) with 5-nm PAEs and (c) with 10-nm PAEs. In case of the crystals prepared with 5-nm PAEs, a smaller fraction of the crystals that have a slightly larger unit cell parameter, 292.9 Å, were detected in the diffraction profile. The two phases are likely to occur during crystallization owing to the polydispersity of the 5-nm particle cores. Size exclusion occurs more readily during crystallization of the 5-nm PAEs compared to the 10-nm PAEs, as a result of the larger relative size difference between small and large particles in the 5-nm batch. This is a well-documented behaviour for this class of materials⁴².