Bioinspired supramolecular thermistor for resolving subtle temperature variations.

A bioinspired supramolecular thermistor achieves an ultrahigh negative temperature coefficient of -22,280% °C -1 between -80° and -75°C, enabling detection of temperature changes below 0.01°C.

• Why it matters: Precise measurement of subtle temperature variations under cryogenic conditions is essential for environmental monitoring but is limited by the sensitivity and mechanical interference of conventional thermistors.
• What they did: The authors developed a hybrid polyurethane/carboxymethyl cellulose/MXene/NiO composite that uses molecularly gated charge transport, dynamic hydrogen-bond reconfiguration, and temperature-dependent electronic pathways, with a total of 1,000 thermistors tested.
• The result: This thermistor demonstrates negligible hysteresis, excellent reproducibility, and effective thermal-mechanical decoupling, enabling reliable cryogenic temperature monitoring and thermal mapping in robotic manipulation.