Luminescent composite organohydrogels with Fe³⁺, pH, and glucose-dependent shape memory behavior accompanied with diverse fluorescence variation

It is quite urgent to develop a smart and high through-put confidential information storage, protection, and display platform based on the fluorescent hydrogels that could exhibit diverse fluorescent variation behavior during each stimulus-based shape memory and recovery process. Herein, it proposed an effective approach to develop a novel fluorescent composite gel with Fe³⁺, pH, and glucose-dependent diversity fluorescence variation and shape memory behavior. For this composite gel system, based on the reversible coordination interactions between Fe³⁺ and carboxylic acid groups of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), boric acid groups of carbon dots (CDs), and hydroxyl groups of PVA, it can stabilize and memorize the temporary shapes under the stimulus of Fe³⁺ and pH, respectively. Meanwhile, the fluorescence of the CDs within the gels can also exhibit diversity variation behaviors during each shape recovery process. Furthermore, the compositions of the composite gel were optimized to realize relatively high efficiency of shape recovery and fluorescence variation under each type of stimulus. In summary, this study presented a universal strategy for multi-shape memory hydrogels with diverse fluorescence variation properties which exhibited prominent prospective in the field of information encryption with high-level security.