Electrolytic reduction of liquid metal oxides and its application to reconfigurable structured devices

Scientific Reports
Jinqi WangAjay Nahata

Abstract

Structured metallic patterns are routinely used for a wide variety of applications, ranging from electronic circuits to plasmonics and metamaterials. Numerous techniques have been developed for the fabrication of these devices, in which the metal patterns are typically formed using conventional metals. While this approach has proven very successful, it does generally limit the ability to reconfigure the geometry of the overall device. Here, we demonstrate the ability to create artificially structured metallic devices using liquid metals, in which the configuration can be altered via the electrolysis of saline solutions or deionized water. We accomplish this using an elastomeric mold with two different sets of embedded microfluidic channels that are patterned and injected with EGaIn and water, respectively. The electrochemical reaction is then used to etch the thin oxide layer that forms on eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) in a controlled reproducible manner. Once the oxide layer is dissolved locally, the underlying liquid metal retracts away from the original position to a position where a new stable oxide layer can reform, which is equivalent to erasing a section of the liquid metal. To allow for full reconfigurability, the ent...Continue Reading

References

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Feb 15, 2012·Optics Express·Jinqi WangAjay Nahata
Jan 22, 2013·Advanced Materials·Etienne PalleauMichael D Dickey
Mar 26, 2014·Optics Express·Jinqi WangAjay Nahata

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Citations

Apr 21, 2017·Advanced Materials·Navid KazemCarmel Majidi
Dec 23, 2017·Advanced Science·James WissmanCarmel Majidi
Jul 17, 2020·Chemical Society Reviews·Yin FangBozhi Tian

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Software Mentioned

EGaIn

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