IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-64061-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cellulose-mediated ionic liquid crystallization enables tough-stiff switchable ionogels

Author

Listed:
  • Siheng Wang

    (University of British Columbia
    Chinese Academy of Forestry)

  • Huayu Liu

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Zhengyang Yu

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Xinle Ren

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Qi Hua

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Mahyar Panahi-Sarmad

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Pu Yang

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Chuhang Liu

    (University of British Columbia)

  • Scott Renneckar

    (University of British Columbia)

  • He Liu

    (Chinese Academy of Forestry)

  • Feng Jiang

    (University of British Columbia)

Abstract

Nature has inspired to fabricate mechanically switchable materials for applications in various aspects, which is, however, unique but challenging to achieve reversible phase transitions using common ionic liquids in ionogels with ambient temperature-triggered crystallization feature. Here, we develop a tough-stiff switchable ionogel through a reversible solvent crystallization design. Cellulose acts as a chemical regulator, competitively binding with polymers to promote the formation of ionic liquid crystals. This results in a tough ionogel with a bulk toughness of 25.7 MJ m−3 and a fracture toughness of 47.1 kJ m−2, which can switch into a stiff ionogel with a tensile modulus of 134.6 MPa and a compressive modulus of 48.9 MPa. Upon heating, the crystallized ionogel reverts to its unconfined as ionic liquid crystals melt. This phase-driven structural and rigidity transition enables dynamical programming, with rapid, reversible and repeatable shape recovery through heating. Our study demonstrates solvent crystallization in ionogels, offering a strategy for creating intelligent, reconfigurable, and performance-switchable materials with customizable functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Siheng Wang & Huayu Liu & Zhengyang Yu & Xinle Ren & Qi Hua & Mahyar Panahi-Sarmad & Pu Yang & Chuhang Liu & Scott Renneckar & He Liu & Feng Jiang, 2025. "Cellulose-mediated ionic liquid crystallization enables tough-stiff switchable ionogels," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64061-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64061-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64061-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-64061-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64061-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.