Cell‐friendly Regulation of Ice Crystals by Antifreeze Organism‐Inspired Materials

There is a dilemma between ice growth inhibition and cell-threatening sharp-edged ice formation, dominating an unfavorable efficiency of cell cryoprotection using ice control materials (ICMs). Herein, we design different-type antifreeze organism-inspired ICMs and show the cell-friendly regulation of ice crystals by a synergistic effect for cell cryoprotection. Preferred rapid adsorption of "high-diffusivity ICM" on the curved ice crystal surface induced by "ice-binding ICM," owing to the Gibbs-Curie-Wulff theorem, promotes smooth-shaped and small ice crystal formation during the freeze-thaw cycle. Meanwhile, their intracellular and extracellular osmotic balance well protects the cryopreserved cells. All-round protection benefits cell survival to achieve a cryopreservation efficiency of 97%. After cryopreservation, ice-binding ICM exhibits double thermosensitive behaviors to directly encapsulate post-thaw cells by gels, to further support cell-based therapies. This work provides an in-depth understanding of cell cryoprotection, and paves the road to the development of even better ICMs for biospecimen cryopreservation.