2014 journal article
Giant and switchable surface activity of liquid metal via surface oxidation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(39), 14047–14051.
author keywords: EGaIn; electrocapillarity; electrorheology; dewetting; spreading
TL;DR:
This work suggests that the wetting properties of surface oxides—which are ubiquitous on most metals and semiconductors—are intrinsic “surfactants” that can be harnessed to induce previously unidentified electrohydrodynamic phenomena for manipulating liquid metal alloys based on gallium.
(via Semantic Scholar)
open access via www.pnas.org (publisher PDF)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
3. Good Health and Well-being
(Web of Science)
Source: Crossref
Added: December 16, 2019
Significance We present a method to control the interfacial energy of a liquid metal via electrochemical deposition (or removal) of an oxide layer on its surface. Unlike conventional surfactants, this approach can tune the interfacial tension of a metal significantly (from ∼7× that of water to near zero), rapidly, and reversibly using only modest voltages. These properties can be harnessed to induce previously unidentified electrohydrodynamic phenomena for manipulating liquid metal alloys based on gallium, which may enable shape-reconfigurable metallic components in electronic, electromagnetic, and microfluidic devices without the use of toxic mercury. The results also suggest that oxides—which are ubiquitous on most metals and semiconductors—may be harnessed to lower interfacial energy between dissimilar materials.