Inorganic salt-tuned multiple self-assemblies of supramolecular β-cyclodextrin gel

Just as biological behaviors that can be tuned by salt ions, salt-containing soft materials are of great importance in various fields. Here we report a supramolecular cyclodextrin gel, of which properties including gelation behavior, fiber size, thermal stability as well as mechanical strength could be well tailored by inorganic salts. The concentrations, types of alkali salts were tested and had a profound impact on the gel properties. The formation/collapse behaviors and variations of gel fiber size were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical microscopy (OM). Infrared spectroscopy (IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) revealed the mechanism of molecular arrangement and provided insight into the outstanding salt effects. This might have potential applications in designing novel smart materials and provide a new course of constructing multi-morphological gels by salts.