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From liquid metal to stretchable electronics: Overcoming the surface tension

从液态金属到柔性电子器件: 克服表面张力

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Abstract

The field of stretchable electronics mainly includes electronic products conformal with tissues, being integrated into skin or clothing. Since these products need to work during deformation, their requirements for materials focus on stretchability and conductivity. Liquid metals are excellent materials with these properties. However, liquid metals have extremely high surface tension at room temperature, which will spontaneously form a spherical shape and are difficult to form the shape required by stretchable devices, which is the biggest obstacle to their development in this emerging field. Therefore, the emphasis is placed on the principle of overcoming the high surface tension in this review, and various methods of using liquid metals to fabricate stretchable electronic devices based on these principles have been linked. Liquid metals show promise in the convenience of sensing, energy harvesting, etc. The existing challenges and opportunities are also discussed here.

摘要

可伸缩电子领域主要包括可以集成在皮肤或服装表面的电子产品. 由于这些产品需要在变形期间工作, 因此它们对材料的需求集中在可拉伸性和导电性. 液态金属正是兼具这些属性的优良的材料. 但是, 液态金属在常温下有极高的表面张力, 会自发的形成球状而难以被控制来形成柔性电子器件所需要的形状, 这是其向柔性电子领域发展的最大阻碍. 因此, 本综述将重点放在克服液态金属高表面张力的原理上, 基于这些原理所使用液态金属制作柔性电子器件的各种方法被串联了起来. 克服了表面张力的阻碍后, 液态金属在传感、 能量收集等方面有巨大的前景. 在此还讨论了目前该领域存在的挑战和机遇.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52173237 and 51903068) and the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China (YQ2020E001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Zixu Yang  (杨子旭), Dan Yang  (杨丹), Xizheng Zhao  (赵希峥), Qinyi Zhao  (赵秦艺), Ming Zhu  (祝明), Yan Liu  (刘妍) & Dianpeng Qi  (齐殿鹏)

  2. National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthesis, Transformation and Separation of Extreme Environmental Nutrients, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Weihong Lu  (卢卫红) & Dianpeng Qi  (齐殿鹏)

  3. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Yu Wang  (王宇)

Authors
  1. Zixu Yang  (杨子旭)
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  2. Dan Yang  (杨丹)
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  3. Xizheng Zhao  (赵希峥)
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  4. Qinyi Zhao  (赵秦艺)
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  5. Ming Zhu  (祝明)
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  6. Yan Liu  (刘妍)
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  7. Yu Wang  (王宇)
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  8. Weihong Lu  (卢卫红)
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  9. Dianpeng Qi  (齐殿鹏)
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Contributions

Author contributions Yang Z wrote the draft; Yang D, Zhao X, Zhao Q, Zhu M, and Liu Y provided some meaningful suggestions for the draft writing; Qi D modified this review article and led the project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dianpeng Qi  (齐殿鹏).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Zixu Yang received his BSc degree in chemical engineering and technology in 2019 from Harbin Institute of Technology. He is pursuing his MSc degree in chemical engineering and technology in Prof. Qi’s laboratory. His research focuses on the application of stretchable electronics based on liquid metal.

Dianpeng Qi received his BSc degree in chemistry in 2007 and PhD degree in physical chemistry in 2012 from Jilin University (China). From 2012 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He joined Harbin Institute of Technology in 2018, and currently he is a full professor at the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. His research focuses on the flexible electronics for bio-electrophysiology, bio-medical electronics, bio-interfacial sensing and energy conversion.

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Yang, Z., Yang, D., Zhao, X. et al. From liquid metal to stretchable electronics: Overcoming the surface tension. Sci. China Mater. 65, 2072–2088 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-2023-x

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