@article{eaker_joshipura_maxwell_heikenfeld_dickey_2017, title={Electrowetting without external voltage using paint-on electrodes}, volume={17}, ISSN={["1473-0189"]}, DOI={10.1039/c6lc01500j}, abstractNote={Electrowetting uses voltage to manipulate small volumes of fluid for applications including lab-on-a-chip and optical devices.}, number={6}, journal={LAB ON A CHIP}, publisher={Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Joshipura, Ishan D. and Maxwell, Logan R. and Heikenfeld, Jason and Dickey, Michael D.}, year={2017}, month={Mar}, pages={1069–1075} } @article{eaker_joshipura_maxwell_heikenfeld_dickey_2017, title={Electrowetting without external voltage using paint-on electrodes (vol 17, pg 1069, 2017)}, volume={17}, ISSN={["1473-0189"]}, DOI={10.1039/c7lc90029e}, abstractNote={Correction for ‘Electrowetting without external voltage using paint-on electrodes’ by Collin B. Eaker et al., Lab Chip, 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c6lc01500j.}, number={7}, journal={LAB ON A CHIP}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Joshipura, Ishan D. and Maxwell, Logan R. and Heikenfeld, Jason and Dickey, Michael D.}, year={2017}, month={Apr}, pages={1359–1359} } @article{eaker_hight_john d. o'regan_dickey_daniels_2017, title={Oxidation-Mediated Fingering in Liquid Metals}, volume={119}, ISSN={["1079-7114"]}, DOI={10.1103/physrevlett.119.174502}, abstractNote={We identify and characterize a new class of fingering instabilities in liquid metals; these instabilities are unexpected due to the large interfacial tension of metals. Electrochemical oxidation lowers the effective interfacial tension of a gallium-based liquid metal alloy to values approaching zero, thereby inducing drastic shape changes, including the formation of fractals. The measured fractal dimension (D=1.3±0.05) places the instability in a different universality class than other fingering instabilities. By characterizing changes in morphology and dynamics as a function of droplet volume and applied electric potential, we identify the three main forces involved in this process: interfacial tension, gravity, and oxidative stress. Importantly, we find that electrochemical oxidation can generate compressive interfacial forces that oppose the tensile forces at a liquid interface. The surface oxide layer ultimately provides a physical and electrochemical barrier that halts the instabilities at larger positive potentials. Controlling the competition between interfacial tension and oxidative (compressive) stresses at the interface is important for the development of reconfigurable electronic, electromagnetic, and optical devices that take advantage of the metallic properties of liquid metals.}, number={17}, journal={PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS}, publisher={American Physical Society (APS)}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Hight, David C. and John D. O'Regan and Dickey, Michael D. and Daniels, Karen E.}, year={2017}, month={Oct} } @article{eaker_khan_dickey_2016, title={A Method to Manipulate Surface Tension of a Liquid Metal via Surface Oxidation and Reduction}, volume={1}, ISSN={["1940-087X"]}, DOI={10.3791/53567}, abstractNote={Controlling interfacial tension is an effective method for manipulating the shape, position, and flow of fluids at sub-millimeter length scales, where interfacial tension is a dominant force. A variety of methods exist for controlling the interfacial tension of aqueous and organic liquids on this scale; however, these techniques have limited utility for liquid metals due to their large interfacial tension. Liquid metals can form soft, stretchable, and shape-reconfigurable components in electronic and electromagnetic devices. Although it is possible to manipulate these fluids via mechanical methods (e.g., pumping), electrical methods are easier to miniaturize, control, and implement. However, most electrical techniques have their own constraints: electrowetting-on-dielectric requires large (kV) potentials for modest actuation, electrocapillarity can affect relatively small changes in the interfacial tension, and continuous electrowetting is limited to plugs of the liquid metal in capillaries. Here, we present a method for actuating gallium and gallium-based liquid metal alloys via an electrochemical surface reaction. Controlling the electrochemical potential on the surface of the liquid metal in electrolyte rapidly and reversibly changes the interfacial tension by over two orders of magnitude ( ̴500 mN/m to near zero). Furthermore, this method requires only a very modest potential (< 1 V) applied relative to a counter electrode. The resulting change in tension is due primarily to the electrochemical deposition of a surface oxide layer, which acts as a surfactant; removal of the oxide increases the interfacial tension, and vice versa. This technique can be applied in a wide variety of electrolytes and is independent of the substrate on which it rests.}, number={107}, journal={JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS}, publisher={MyJove Corporation}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Khan, M. Rashed and Dickey, Michael D.}, year={2016}, month={Jan} } @misc{eaker_dickey_2016, title={Liquid metal actuation by electrical control of interfacial tension}, volume={3}, ISSN={["1931-9401"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959898}, DOI={10.1063/1.4959898}, abstractNote={By combining metallic electrical conductivity with low viscosity, liquid metals and liquid metal alloys offer new and exciting opportunities to serve as reconfigurable components of electronic, microfluidic, and electromagnetic devices. Here, we review the physics and applications of techniques that utilize voltage to manipulate the interfacial tension of liquid metals; such techniques include electrocapillarity, continuous electrowetting, electrowetting-on-dielectric, and electrochemistry. These techniques lower the interfacial tension between liquid metals and a surrounding electrolyte by driving charged species (or in the case of electrochemistry, chemical species) to the interface. The techniques are useful for manipulating and actuating liquid metals at sub-mm length scales where interfacial forces dominate. We focus on metals and alloys that are liquid near or below room temperature (mercury, gallium, and gallium-based alloys). The review includes discussion of mercury—despite its toxicity—because it has been utilized in numerous applications and it offers a way of introducing several phenomena without the complications associated with the oxide layer that forms on gallium and its alloys. The review focuses on the advantages, applications, opportunities, challenges, and limitations of utilizing voltage to control interfacial tension as a method to manipulate liquid metals.}, number={3}, journal={APPLIED PHYSICS REVIEWS}, publisher={AIP Publishing}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Dickey, Michael D.}, year={2016}, month={Sep} } @article{eaker_dickey_2015, title={Liquid metals as ultra-stretchable, soft, and shape reconfigurable conductors}, volume={9467}, ISSN={["1996-756X"]}, DOI={10.1117/12.2175988}, abstractNote={Conventional, rigid materials remain the key building blocks of most modern electronic devices, but they are limited in their ability to conform to curvilinear surfaces. It is possible to make electronic components that are flexible and in some cases stretchable by utilizing thin films, engineered geometries, or inherently soft and stretchable materials that maintain their function during deformation. Here, we describe the properties and applications of a micromoldable liquid metal that can form conductive components that are ultra-stretchable, soft, and shape-reconfigurable. This liquid metal is a gallium-based alloy with low viscosity and high conductivity. The metal develops spontaneously a thin, passivating oxide layer on the surface that allows the metal to be molded into non-spherical shapes, including films and wires, and patterned by direct-write techniques or microfluidic injection. Furthermore, unlike mercury, the liquid metal has low toxicity and negligible vapor pressure. This paper discusses the mechanical and electrical properties of the metal in the context of electronics, and discusses how the properties of the oxide layer have been exploited for new patterning techniques that enable soft, stretchable and reconfigurable devices.}, journal={MICRO- AND NANOTECHNOLOGY SENSORS, SYSTEMS, AND APPLICATIONS VII}, publisher={SPIE}, author={Eaker, Collin B. and Dickey, Michael D.}, editor={George, Thomas and Dutta, Achyut K. and Islam, M. SaifEditors}, year={2015} } @article{khan_eaker_bowden_dickey_2014, title={Giant and switchable surface activity of liquid metal via surface oxidation}, volume={111}, ISSN={0027-8424 1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1412227111}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.1412227111}, abstractNote={Significance}, number={39}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Khan, Mohammad Rashed and Eaker, Collin B. and Bowden, Edmond F. and Dickey, Michael D.}, year={2014}, month={Sep}, pages={14047–14051} }