Rational design of molecular and polymetric gelators is an elusive and herculean task, despite the rapidly growing body of literature devoted to such gels over the past several decades. So far, a variety of external physical stimuli (e.g. light and ultrasound) have been used to switch molecular assembly involved in the gel formation.

However, to our best knowledge, the research on using electric field to induce polysaccharide self-assemble to form gel has not been reported. In this paper, DC electric field was successfully applied to induce the formation of konjac glucomannan (KGM) gel, a new type of thermal-stable gel, in the presence of sodium tungstate.

The possible mechanism of gel formation and rheological properties have been discussed. Unlike traditional ways of preparing KGM gels, our approach didn’t require the addition of any alkali, borax, or other gums.

This type of gel overcomes the problems currently faced due to the poor thermal-stability of KGM gels as well as the problems often faced while preparing gels in alkaline condition.

Our finding may pave the way to use DC electric fields for the design and development of KGM gels and to apply KGM gels for practical applications.