Programmable Ion-Protein Networks from Sodium Caseinate: A Sustainable Platform for Soft Functional Materials

Key Points

• The aim is to explore ion–protein coordination for developing multiresponsive, soft materials.
• Constructing hydrogels using sodium caseinate with ionic crosslinking.
• Selecting multivalent cations to control the properties of the materials.
• Successfully created programmable ionically crosslinked hydrogels.
• Demonstrated the ability to tailor the properties of the hydrogels through cation selection.