COMPOSITES COMMUNICATIONS
·
2025
·
IF 7.7
Zhao Gao,Xiaoxue Wu,Zhiqiang Qi,Xiangsheng Han,Wenzhu Sun,Hongzhen Cai
Liquid metal (LM)-based conductive hydrogels have attracted considerable attention in wearable technology due to their superior electrical conductivity and excellent biocompatibility. However, developing LM composite hydrogels that simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, long-term durability, and superior mechanical properties remains a challenge for meeting the demands of advanced wearable applications. In this study, we introduce phytic acid (PA), a naturally occurring small molecule, whose unique interfacial stabilization properties arise from the dual functionality of its phosphate groups: (i) the ability to form strong coordination bonds with metal surfaces, and (ii) the enhancement of the polymer network through multiple hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions, significantly improving the dispersion stability of LM within the hydrogel matrix. Based on this strategy, we successfully fabricated PLM x hydrogels with superior electrical conductivity (∼0.53 S m −1 ), exceptional toughness (∼9.7 MJ m −3 ), and remarkable durability (>11,000 cycles). The PLM x hydrogel exhibits outstanding sensitivity (gauge factor ∼8.1) and enables wireless dual-mode signal detection—precisely monitoring vigorous human motion and sensitively detecting subtle physiological signals. Notably, even under prolonged use and high-frequency cycling conditions, the PLM x hydrogel maintains excellent signal responsiveness and operational stability, demonstrating its tremendous potential for applications in smart health monitoring, human-machine interfaces, and next-generation wearable devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
可穿戴技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
APPLIED PHYSICS A-MATERIALS SCIENCE & PROCESSING
·
2025
·Vol. 131
·期 5
·1-9
·
IF 2.8
Liao Gengcheng,Huang Zongyu,Ren Long,Qi Xiang
Directly growing oxides on the surface of liquid metal (LM) offers a novel strategy to effectively integrate flexible conductive substrate with semiconductive layer for functional devices including photodetectors. Gallium-based liquid metal with native oxides surface typically demonstrates such LM/semiconductor construction with attractive photoelectric responsivity, however, the relevant photo-electrode lacking efficient response to visible light due to the wide band-gap of Ga-oxides. This paper presents a straightforward fabrication route containing printing and in-situ reaction growing for the preparation of liquid metal functionalized with narrow-band gap semiconductor ( e.g. , Cu 2 O). The resulting LM/metal-oxides heterostructure exhibits a well-matched liquid–solid contact and good interfacial charge transfer between the soft conductive substrate and active surface components. Characterizations including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy confirm the successful preparation of the Cu 2 O thin layer with an expanded absorption spectrum range. The as-fabricated photoelectrode consisted of LM-Cu 2 O, through photoelectrochemical (PEC) tests, presents fast photo-responsibility under the simulated sunlight illumination and self-powered capability. Specifically, the LM-Cu 2 O based PEC photodetector shows maximum photoresponsivity of − 70 μA/W and photocurrent density of − 9.5 μA/cm 2 at a bias voltage of 0 V. Our results provide a general method for the design and manufacture of novel photodetectors.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
光电技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE
·
2024
·Vol. 141
·期 24
·e55511
·
IF 2.7
Shuxin Zheng,Yuxiang Nie,Zhangzhong Wang,Xin Feng,Jiahua Zhu,Xiaohua Lu,Liwen Mu
This work presents a design of a unique “roller wheel” structure combining rigid MXene and flexible liquid metal (LM), aiming to construct an epoxy composite coating with simultaneous advanced mechanical strength and lubrication properties. The antiwear property of the epoxy composites is improved by 72.8% when the LM is 0.5 wt% and MXene is 0.03 wt%. The incorporation of LM-MXene improved the mechanical properties of the epoxy composite coating, resulting in an approximately 136.6% increase in elastic modulus. The unique “roller wheel” structure provides additional mechanical support and leads to lower adhesion between the MXene layers and LM. As a result, LM reduces the stripping and sliding of the interface between MXene layers during the friction process, further enhancing the lubrication performance of the epoxy composite coating.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
表面工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
·
2020
·
IF 8.758
Stephan Handschuh-Wang,Tao Wang,Lifei Zhu,Yang Xu,Lei Huang,Tiansheng Gan,Yongbing Tang,Xuechang Zhou
Gallium-based liquid metals (GLMs) exist as atypical liquid-phase metals at and near room temperature while being electrically and thermally conductive, enabling copious applications in soft electronics and thermal management systems. Yet, solid metals are affected by interfacing with GLMs, resulting in liquid metal embrittlement and device failure. To avert this issue, mechanically durable and electrically tunable diffusion barriers for long-term reliable liquid metal–solid metal interfacing based on the deposition of various diamond coatings are designed and synthesized, as they feature high chemical inertness and extraordinary mechanical resistance. The diamond coatings show superlyophobicity (GLM contact angle ≥ 155°) and are nonstick toward GLMs, thereby achieving high mobility of GLM droplets (sliding angle 8–12°). The excellent barrier and anti-adhesion performance of the diamond coatings are proven in long-term experiments (3 weeks) of coated titanium alloy (Ti) samples in contact with GLMs. The electrical performance of the conductive diamond coating deposited on Ti is reliable and stable over a period of 50 h. As proof-of-concept applications a switch and a thermal management device based on liquid metals are demonstrated, signifying that coating diamond films on metals is a potent means to achieve stable integration of solid metals with GLMs.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
电子工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Advanced Intelligent Systems
·
2019
·Vol. 1
·期 7
·1900064
·
IF 0
Daolin Wang,Zhihua Lin,Chang Zhou,Changyong Gao,Qiang He
One of the great challenges in the field of tiny machines is the capability of engineering liquid metal micromachines to autonomously move within confining channels to perform various complex tasks. Herein, liquid metal gallium micromachines that significantly increase their velocity in confining channels with adaptive deformation under exposure to an electric field are presented. The liquid metal gallium micromachines move toward the negative electrode under the propulsion of hydrogen bubbles, which is obviously different from the previous report that liquid metal gallium alloy (i.e., Galinstan) micromachines move to the positive electrode, owing to the surface tension gradient. More importantly, the liquid metal gallium micromachine can adaptively deform and accelerate in confined channels. The velocity of liquid metal gallium micromachines increases with the decrease in the width of channels. It is found that the speed-up motion of liquid metal gallium micromachines is caused by the enhanced electro-osmosis effect in confining channels. The findings not only help understand the role of the confinement effect on the motion of liquid metal micromachines but also provide a novel strategy to manipulate the motion velocity of liquid metal micromachines for specific applications.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
微纳米技术
·
物理学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
Nature Communications
·
2020
·Vol. 11
·期 1
·1-11
·
IF 12.121
Xie Junyao,You Xueqiu,Huang Yuqing,Ni Zurong,Wang Xinchang,Li Xingrui,Yang Chaoyong,Zhang Dechao,Chen Hong,Sun Huijun,Chen Zhong
Magnetic resonance (MR) technology has been widely employed in scientific research, clinical diagnosis and geological survey. However, the fabrication of MR radio frequency probeheads still face difficulties in integration, customization and miniaturization. Here, we utilized 3D printing and liquid metal filling techniques to fabricate integrative radio frequency probeheads for MR experiments. The 3D-printed probehead with micrometer precision generally consists of liquid metal coils, customized sample chambers and radio frequency circuit interfaces. We screened different 3D printing materials and optimized the liquid metals by incorporating metal microparticles. The 3D-printed probeheads are capable of performing both routine and nonconventional MR experiments, including in situ electrochemical analysis, in situ reaction monitoring with continues-flow paramagnetic particles and ions separation, and small-sample MR imaging. Due to the flexibility and accuracy of 3D printing techniques, we can accurately obtain complicated coil geometries at the micrometer scale, shortening the fabrication timescale and extending the application scenarios.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
材料科学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2019
·Vol. 29
·期 36
·1903840
·
IF 15.621
Yun-hui Wu,Zhi-fu Deng,Ze-fei Peng,Rong-min Zheng,Shu-qi Liu,Shu-ting Xing,Jun-yun Li,De-qun Huang,Lan Liu
Low-melting liquid metal is a hugely promising material for flexible conductive patterns due to its excellent conductivity and supercompliance, especially low-cost and environmental liquid processing technology. However, the ever-present fluidity characteristic greatly limits the stable shape and reliability of prepared liquid metal conductive electronics. Herein, a novel solidification strategy of liquid GaIn alloys by Ni doping and heat treatment is first reported, which can efficiently create a solid phase in the liquid metal and provide an effective solution for practical applications. Particularly, the liquid characteristic is preserved for conveniently fabricating different flexible electronic circuits, and then the solidification is carried out on prepared conductive patterns by heat treatment. The solidification mechanism is revealed by the interface chemical reaction between Ni and GaIn, creating the solid phase of intermetallic compound (Ga 4 Ni 3 and InNi 3 ) during heat treatment. Moreover, a biphasic GaInNi can be obtained by regulating the atomic ratio of gallium, indium, and nickel. As a result, the obtained GaInNi possesses extremely low sheet resistance (15 ± 4.5 to 135 ± 2.5 mΩ sq −1 ) and the variation of Δ R/R 0 exhibits low level (0–2) when strained up to 100%, which offers a promising strategy to prepare stretchable and reliable liquid metal electronics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
电子工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
·
2023
·
IF 19
Xinpeng Che,Ting Wang,Bailang Zhang,Zhuanzhuan Zhai,Yijun Chen,Danfeng Pei,Anle Ge,Mingjie Li,Chaoxu Li
Harvesting electricity from ubiquitous atmospheric moisture has drawn growing research attention. Despite great advances, moisture generators still suffer from performance decay during long-term service. Recently, self-oscillating actuators driven by humidity gradience have attracted great interests, which may give a clue to harvest energy persistently via electromagnetic induction. In order to combine high electric conductivity with self-oscillating actuators, bimorph composites of 2D conductive MXene with liquid metal (i.e., EGaIn) are designed. In presence of marine alginate, EGaIn droplets can be encapsulated by MXene nanosheets in their suspension. And simple liquid-casting can produce biomorph actuating films with top MXene-rich layer and bottom EGaIn-rich layer of self-sintered EGaIn droplets. When exposing to a humidity gradience (e.g., 20% cm −1 ), this biomorph actuator can oscillate persistently with an actuating speed of ≈260° s −1 and a frequency of ≈0.5 Hz, while without any human intervention. Under a magnetic field (e.g., intensity ≈0.5 T), this self-oscillating behavior can generate an alternating faradic current with an amplitude of at least 1360 µA m −2 . Thus, this study may not only provide an alternative pathway for producing self-oscillating and conductive actuators, but also offer a new strategy for persistent energy harvest from atmospheric moisture.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Materials Today Communications
·
2025
·
IF 4.5
Wenqiang Zhang,Hongjie Guo,Xiang Zhang,Hongliang Li
Wound infection remains a significant challenge in clinical medicine, impeding the healing process of wounds. Conventional therapeutic approaches, including antibiotics, surgical debridement, and conventional dressings, are often limited by issues such as antibiotic resistance, secondary tissue damage, and insufficient biocompatibility. Existing wound dressings exhibit poor mechanical properties and possess only single therapeutic functions, lacking the ability to effectively monitor wound healing status. To address these limitations, this study have developed a novel hydrogel dressing. This dressing utilizes microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) to stably encapsulate liquid metal (Ga) droplets, which also serve as a photothermal filler for the hydrogel. The addition of MXene stabilizes the colloidal system, and the resulting hydrogel is integrated with a pH-sensitive optical fiber to form a pH-sensitive optical fiber/ PMGa hydrogel. This composite hydrogel exhibits excellent mechanical properties (400 % elongation at break), antimicrobial activity, and pH sensitivity. Moreover, the hydrogel's tissue adhesion and stretchability enable it to conform to various skin surfaces and accommodate skin movement and stretching. The pH-sensitive optical fiber/PMGa hydrogel not only monitors the pH value of the wound through different light transmittance to judge the state of the wound environment， but also effectively inhibits bacterial growth through its photothermal effect. It provides an optimal temperature and humidity environment to promote cell proliferation and granulation tissue formation, thereby facilitating photothermal therapy. In summary, this work presents a novel hydrogel dressing that integrates monitoring and therapeutic functions. This comprehensive solution offers a new platform for the development of wound infection treatment materials.
研究领域:
生物医学工程
·
材料科学
·
伤口护理
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2024
·
IF 13.3
Changshun Gu,Wenjing Qin,Xiujie Guo,Boxin Zhao,Yanli Wang,Xinxin Li,Mengyao Chen,Liying Yang,Shougen Yin
Liquid metal (LM) composites, known for their excellent conductivity and fluidity, hold great promise in the fields of printed electronics and wearable technology. However, their high surface tension and fluidity can lead to circuit instability, such as leakage during deformation, resulting in short circuits. Therefore, additional methods are necessary to enhance the stability of LM within composite material systems. In this paper, Carbon nanotube (CNT) was introduced as a transition layer to enhance the adhesion of gallium-indium-copper-alloy ink (GCLA) on different elastic substrates and to obtain interface fusion conductive layers. The modified GCLA conductive fibers achieved high conductivity (conductivity up to 3.13 × 10 5 S/m), ultra-stretchability (1580 % of ultra-large deformation, the resistance changes less than 3 Ω), and ultra-stability (within 200 % of large deformation, the change of resistance less than 1 Ω). In addition, we also demonstrated the operability of GCLA in forming patterns on hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrate surfaces and obtained conductive patterns through printing, transfer printing, and hand drawing, making it a promising candidate for flexible electronics.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
柔性电子
·
可穿戴技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
Journal of Energy Chemistry
·
2022
·
IF 13.599
Yaqin Qi,Chao Shen,Qian Hou,Zengying Ren,Ting Jin,Keyu Xie
The gallium-based liquid metal as one of the self-healing materials has gained wide attention, especially in the energy storage system. However, volume expansion with the “liquid–solid-liquid” transformation process still leads to un-controlled electrode failure, which stimulates the irreversibility of liquid metal and hinders their self-healing effect as the anode for lithium-ion batteries. Herein, the polypyrrole (PPy) with highly conductive and adhesive features is first introduced to fasten the liquid metal nanoparticles (gallium-tin alloy, EGaSn) in the integrated electrode and applied as the anode for lithium-ion batteries. A tightly PPy wrapped EGaSn nanoparticles structure is formed during the in - situ polymerization synthesis process, which effectively avoids the detachment of solid alloyed products. Based on the features of PPy, polyacrylic acid is added to facilitate strengthening the integrity of the electrode by constructing the hydrogen bond. The “dual-insurance” design endows the EGaSn to exhibit superior electrochemical kinetics and an astonishing self-healing effect. As a result, the customized anode displays superior cycling stability (499.8 mAh g −1 after 500 cycles at 1.0 A g −1 ) and rate capability (350 mAh g −1 at 2.0 A g −1 ). This work enriches the electrode engineering technology of liquid metal nanoparticles and opens up a new way to customize the self-healing anode for lithium-ion batteries.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
能源存储
✓ 已验证
DOI
高影响因子
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
·
2025
·
IF 13.2
Meiyang Hu,Jiyuan Yu,Wenhao Li,Yong Shuai,Liqiang Ai,Zhaolong Wang
Soft, flexible electronics is boosting the monitoring physiological data and assessing health conditions. However, their further practical utilization is limited due to the lack of intrinsic adhesion interfaces for mechanical deformation, self-healing capability against mechanical damages, and degradable properties for the waste electronic products treatment. Herein, we report the design concepts, materials, fabrication methods, and multifunctional applications of a new type of self-healing and degradable flexible health-detection electronics based on three-dimensional (3D) printable polymers and liquid metals. The 3D printable elastomer processes amazing self-healing efficiency (99.5 %), excellent mechanical properties (tensile strength: 3104 kPa), degradable, intrinsic adhesion, and so on. Polymer elastomers combined with the fluidity of Galinstan (GaInSn) allow the electronic devices to heal from fracture and restore electrical performance. Our polymer elastomers effectively solve the coordination problems between solid-state electronic devices and substrates, greatly improving the integration and functional complexity of the functional devices. The reliable connection between the GaInSn circuit, commercial components and elastomers can easily measure various physiological signals such as electrophysiology, temperature, and body motions. In addition, the commercial components and GaInSn circuits can be well recycled through ethanol to reduce pollution to the environment. The present 3D printed self-healing multifunctional electronics enables new opportunities for promising applications of flexible electronic devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
·
电子工程
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）