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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Coacervate-engineered keratin bioelastomers with tunable mechanics

  • Junxian Zhang1,2
  • Feipeng Chen3
  • Zhili Wan4,5
  • Joshua A. Dijksman6
  • Jasper van der Gucht7,8
  • Chunbao Li1,2
  • Xiufeng Li1,2
8 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Meat Quality Control and Cultured Meat Development, College of Food Science and Technology
  2. 2Nanjing Agricultural University
  3. 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
  4. 4Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Natural Products and Product Safety
  5. 5South China University of Technology
  6. 6Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94485, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1090 GL
  7. 7Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter
  8. 8Wageningen University and Research
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Abstract

Nature employs bottom-up strategies to create elastic materials from protein assemblies, yet transforming structural proteins from abundant agricultural byproducts into customizable bioelastomers remains challenging. Here, we develop a strategy to fabricate bioelastomers with tunable mechanics by co-assembling keratins from wool and feathers through acid-induced coacervation. Time-pH superposition rheology reveals that wool and feather protein coacervates share similar viscoelastic signatures regulated by pH, with relaxation timescales spanning several orders of magnitude. By adjusting the wool-to-feather ratio, the mechanical properties of the resulting materials can be tuned from soft compliance to high stiffness. Strain-resolved Raman spectroscopy and steered molecular dynamics simulations reveal that extensibility and shape recovery originate from reversible microstructural transitions, in which coiled α-helices unfold and reorganize into metastable β-sheet structures under strain. Finally, we demonstrate the compatibility of these coacervate precursors with top-down manufacturing techniques, including wet spinning, blade coating, and extrusion-based 3D printing, enabling the fabrication of moisture-responsive biomaterials with in vitro biocompatibility. This work establishes a scalable platform for upcycling agricultural protein residues into functional bioelastomers for soft devices and biomedical applications.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026coacervateengineered,
  title = {{Coacervate-engineered keratin bioelastomers with tunable mechanics}},
  author = {Junxian Zhang and Feipeng Chen and Zhili Wan and Joshua A. Dijksman and Jasper van der Gucht and Chunbao Li and Xiufeng Li},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010323/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010323/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Coacervate-engineered keratin bioelastomers with tunable mechanics
AU  - Junxian Zhang
AU  - Feipeng Chen
AU  - Zhili Wan
AU  - Joshua A. Dijksman
AU  - Jasper van der Gucht
AU  - Chunbao Li
AU  - Xiufeng Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010323/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010323/v1
AB  - Nature employs bottom-up strategies to create elastic materials from protein assemblies, yet transforming structural proteins from abundant agricultural byproducts into customizable bioelastomers remains challenging. Here, we develop a strategy to fabricate bioelastomers with tunable mechanics by co-assembling keratins from wool and feathers through acid-induced coacervation. Time-pH superposition rheology reveals that wool and feather protein coacervates share similar viscoelastic signatures regulated by pH, with relaxation timescales spanning several orders of magnitude. By adjusting the wool-to-feather ratio, the mechanical properties of the resulting materials can be tuned from soft compliance to high stiffness. Strain-resolved Raman spectroscopy and steered molecular dynamics simulations reveal that extensibility and shape recovery originate from reversible microstructural transitions, in which coiled α-helices unfold and reorganize into metastable β-sheet structures under strain. Finally, we demonstrate the compatibility of these coacervate precursors with top-down manufacturing techniques, including wet spinning, blade coating, and extrusion-based 3D printing, enabling the fabrication of moisture-responsive biomaterials with in vitro biocompatibility. This work establishes a scalable platform for upcycling agricultural protein residues into functional bioelastomers for soft devices and biomedical applications.
ER  -