The zinc nitrate salt acts as a solvent in the ZnX-C 12 EO 10 (ZnX is [Zn(H 2 O) 6 ](NO 3 ) 2 and C 12 EO 10 is C 12 H 25 -(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 10 OH) lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) mesophase with a drastic dropping on the melting point of ZnX. The salt-surfactant LLC mesophase is stable down to -52°C and undergoes a phase change into a solid mesostructured salt upon cooling below -52°C; no phase separation is observed down to -190°C. The ZnX-C 12 EO 10 mesophase displays a usual phase behavior with an increasing concentration of the solvent (ZnX) in the media with an order of bicontinuous cubic(V 1 )-2D hexagonal(H 1 ) -a mixture of 2D hexagonal and micelle cubic(H 1 þ I)-micelle cubic(I)-micelle(L 1 ) phases. The phase behaviors, specifically at low temperatures, and the first phase diagram of the ZnX-C 12 EO 10 system was investigated using polarized optical microscopy (POM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman techniques and conductivity measurements.