Shape-transformable liquid metal nanoparticles in aqueous solution†
†Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00057j
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Abstract

This paper reports the formation of shape-changing and phase-transforming liquid metal particles that have potential applications in drug delivery, catalysis, colloidal jamming, and optics.

Abstract

Stable suspensions of eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) liquid metal nanoparticles form by probe-sonicating the metal in an aqueous solution. Positively-charged molecular or macromolecular surfactants in the solution, such as cetrimonium bromide or lysozyme, respectively, stabilize the suspension by interacting with the negative charges of the surface oxide that forms on the metal. The liquid metal breaks up into nanospheres via sonication, yet can transform into rods of gallium oxide monohydroxide (GaOOH) via moderate heating in solution either during or after sonication. Whereas heating typically drives phase transitions from solid to liquid ( via melting), here heating drives the transformation of particles from liquid to solid via oxidation. Interestingly, indium nanoparticles form during the process of shape transformation due to the selective removal of gallium. This dealloying provides a mechanism to create indium nanoparticles at temperatures well below the melting point of indium. To demonstrate the versatility, we show that it is possible to shape transform and dealloy other alloys of gallium including ternary liquid metal alloys. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirm the dealloying and transformation mechanism.

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Most cited references 34

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Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Michael D. Dickey (2014)

Gallium and several of its alloys are liquid metals at or near room temperature. Gallium has low toxicity, essentially no vapor pressure, and a low viscosity. Despite these desirable properties, applications calling for liquid metal often use toxic mercury because gallium forms a thin oxide layer on its surface. The oxide interferes with electrochemical measurements, alters the physicochemical properties of the surface, and changes the fluid dynamic behavior of the metal in a way that has, until recently, been considered a nuisance. Here, we show that this solid oxide “skin” enables many new applications for liquid metals including soft electrodes and sensors, functional microcomponents for microfluidic devices, self-healing circuits, shape-reconfigurable conductors, and stretchable antennas, wires, and interconnects.

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Catalysis with transition metal nanoparticles in colloidal solution: nanoparticle shape dependence and stability.

Radha Narayanan, Mostafa A El-Sayed (2005)

While the nanocatalysis field has undergone an explosive growth during the past decade, there have been very few studies in the area of shape-dependent catalysis and the effect of the catalytic process on the shape and size of transition metal nanoparticles as well as their recycling potential. Metal nanoparticles of different shapes have different crystallographic facets and have different fraction of surface atoms on their corners and edges, which makes it interesting to study the effect of metal nanoparticle shape on the catalytic activity of various organic and inorganic reactions. Transition metal nanoparticles are attractive to use as catalysts due to their high surface-to-volume ratio compared to bulk catalytic materials, but their surface atoms could be so active that changes in the size and shape of the nanoparticles could occur during the course of their catalytic function, which could also affect their recycling potential. In this Feature Article, we review our work on the effect of the shape of the colloidal nanocatalyst on the catalytic activity as well as the effect of the catalytic process on the shape and size of the colloidal transition metal nanocatalysts and their recycling potential. These studies provide important clues on the mechanism of the reactions we studied and also can be very useful in the process of designing better catalysts in the future.

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Liquid metal enabled pump.

Shi-Yang Tang, Khashayar Khoshmanesh, Vijay Sivan … (2014)

Small-scale pumps will be the heartbeat of many future micro/nanoscale platforms. However, the integration of small-scale pumps is presently hampered by limited flow rate with respect to the input power, and their rather complicated fabrication processes. These issues arise as many conventional pumping effects require intricate moving elements. Here, we demonstrate a system that we call the liquid metal enabled pump, for driving a range of liquids without mechanical moving parts, upon the application of modest electric field. This pump incorporates a droplet of liquid metal, which induces liquid flow at high flow rates, yet with exceptionally low power consumption by electrowetting/deelectrowetting at the metal surface. We present theory explaining this pumping mechanism and show that the operation is fundamentally different from other existing pumps. The presented liquid metal enabled pump is both efficient and simple, and thus has the potential to fundamentally advance the field of microfluidics.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Chem Sci

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Chem Sci

Title: Chemical Science

Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry

ISSN (Print): 2041-6520

ISSN (Electronic): 2041-6539

Publication date (Print): 1 May 2017

Publication date (Electronic): 23 February 2017

Volume: 8

Issue: 5

Pages: 3832-3837

Affiliations

[a ] Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering , North Carolina State University , Raleigh , NC 27695-7905 , USA . Email: jgenzer@ 123456ncsu.edu ; Email: mddickey@ 123456ncsu.edu

[b ] Department of Materials Science & Engineering , North Carolina State University , Raleigh , NC 27695-7907 , USA

Author information

Yiliang Lin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9403-9464

Jan Genzer http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1633-238X

Michael D. Dickey http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1251-1871

Article

Publisher ID: c7sc00057j

DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00057j

PMC ID: 5436598

PubMed ID: 28580116

SO-VID: 805089b3-8e8d-4c75-9b9d-1f4c0fcb0a1c

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 5 January 2017

Date accepted : 22 February 2017

Notes

†Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7sc00057j

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Shape-transformable liquid metal nanoparticles in aqueous solution†

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Most cited references 34

Emerging Applications of Liquid Metals Featuring Surface Oxides

Catalysis with transition metal nanoparticles in colloidal solution: nanoparticle shape dependence and stability.

Liquid metal enabled pump.

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