The effect of cross-linking can be seen in the temperature-dependent SANS data of peptide cross-linked 5c1 nanogels (Figure ,d, Table ) when compared to the purely self-assembled nanogels (Figure2f, Figure ,b, Table ). The power law exponent value below 2 for the non-cross-linked copolymer compared to a value of ~2.4 for the cross-linked nanogels, reveals the difference of the two populations at lower temperatures. As expected, by cross-linking the polymer chains a stable polymer network was formed, and the chains remained interconnected between each other also at temperatures below the LCST. When comparing the two Kratky plots (Figure ) it can be concluded that the self-assembled and cross-linked nanogels both transition from coil to globule at 36 °C, whilst the cross-linked particles were slightly smaller after the transition as seen by the shift of the peak to the higher Q region. This trend is also confirmed by cryo-TEM (Figure , Figure ). An explanation for this smaller size could be that the peptide cross-linkers restrict chain flexibility, keeping the polymer chains tightly connected. 51