ICE-CAP: ice crystal engineering for cryogel architecture programming. Modulation of material properties with ice-binding polymers.
- 1Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK. [email protected].
- 2School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
- 3Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.
Abstract
Macroporous cryogels are formed by polymerising monomers around ice crystal templates, with water as the only waste product, making them appealing as tuneable and sustainable scaffolds. Cryogels have found diverse applications spanning pollutant removal, vaccine delivery, tissue culture and purification. However, an unmet challenge remains: ice crystal templates are intrinsically dynamic and evolve during polymerisation, leading to heterogeneity and complicating reproducibility. Here we overcome this challenge using ice-binding protein-inspired polymers that pre-program the ice crystal template size within cryogels through selective ice crystal surface binding. This ice-crystal programming is shown to fine-tune the rheological and mechanical properties of the resulting materials, without any change in the monomer composition or extensive optimization of reaction conditions, unlike conventional methods. This approach unlocks wider applications of cryogels, exploiting biomimetic solutions to tune the crucial ice crystal template.
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BibTeX
@article{oral2026icecap,
title = {{ICE-CAP: ice crystal engineering for cryogel architecture programming. Modulation of material properties with ice-binding polymers.}},
author = {Cigdem Buse Oral and Libby J Marshall and Dave J Adams and Matthew I Gibson},
journal = {Materials horizons},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6mh01950a},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910482},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - ICE-CAP: ice crystal engineering for cryogel architecture programming. Modulation of material properties with ice-binding polymers.
AU - Cigdem Buse Oral
AU - Libby J Marshall
AU - Dave J Adams
AU - Matthew I Gibson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
JO - Materials horizons
DO - 10.1039/d6mh01950a
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910482
AB - Macroporous cryogels are formed by polymerising monomers around ice crystal templates, with water as the only waste product, making them appealing as tuneable and sustainable scaffolds. Cryogels have found diverse applications spanning pollutant removal, vaccine delivery, tissue culture and purification. However, an unmet challenge remains: ice crystal templates are intrinsically dynamic and evolve during polymerisation, leading to heterogeneity and complicating reproducibility. Here we overcome this challenge using ice-binding protein-inspired polymers that pre-program the ice crystal template size within cryogels through selective ice crystal surface binding. This ice-crystal programming is shown to fine-tune the rheological and mechanical properties of the resulting materials, without any change in the monomer composition or extensive optimization of reaction conditions, unlike conventional methods. This approach unlocks wider applications of cryogels, exploiting biomimetic solutions to tune the crucial ice crystal template.
SN - 2051-6347
SN - 2051-6355
ER -