Voltage-induced penetration effect in liquid metals at room temperature

• 来源期刊: 国家科学评论（英文版）
• 关键词: penetration effects liquid metals surface tension porous materials superwet
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（2）
• 页码范围: 366-372
• 页数: 7页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwz168

摘要

Room-temperature liquid metal is discovered to be capable of penetrating through macro-and microporous materials by applying a voltage.The liquid metal penetration effects are demonstrated in various porous materials such as tissue paper,thick and frne sponges,fabrics,and meshes.The underlying mechanism is that the high surface tension of liquid metal can be significantly reduced to near-zero due to the voltage-induced oxidation of the liquid metal surface in a solution.It is the extremely low surface tension and gravity that cause the liquid metal to superwet the solid surface,leading to the penetration phenomena.These findings offer new opportunities for novel microfluidic applications and could promote further discovery of more exotic fluid states of liquid metals.