A metalloprotein-inspired thermo-gene for thermogels

Abstract

Physical hydrogels and many chemical hydrogels usually melt at temperatures higher than 40–50 °C. We show this by introducing a coordinating hydrogel as a thermo-gene. Heat-melting hydrogels can be transformed into thermogels that remain stable at temperatures over 80 °C. Devices made with this gel work stably at a high temperature of 80 °C. In combination with previous knowledge of anti-freezing hydrogels, the current work allows us to remove the bottleneck that limits the practical application of hydrogel-based flexible devices under different weather conditions.