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Liquid metal enabled microfluidics

Liquid metal enabled microfluidics
Liquid metal enabled microfluidics

Several gallium-based liquid metal alloys are liquid at room temperature. As ‘liquid’, such alloys have a low viscosity and a high surface tension while as ‘metal’, they have high thermal and electrical conductivities, similar to mercury. However, unlike mercury, these liquid metal alloys have low toxicity and a negligible vapor pressure, rendering them much safer. In comparison to mercury, the distinguishing feature of these alloys is the rapid formation of a self-limiting atomically thin layer of gallium oxide over their surface when exposed to oxygen. This oxide layer changes many physical and chemical properties of gallium alloys, including their interfacial and rheological properties, which can be employed and modulated for various applications in microfluidics. Injecting liquid metal into microfluidic structures has been extensively used to pattern and encapsulate highly deformable and reconfigurable electronic devices including electrodes, sensors, antennas, and interconnects. Likewise, the unique features of liquid metals have been employed for fabricating miniaturized microfluidic components including pumps, valves, heaters, and electrodes. In this review, we discuss liquid metal enabled microfluidic components, and highlight their desirable attributes including simple fabrication, facile integration, stretchability, reconfigurability, and low power consumption, with promising applications for highly integrated microfluidic systems.

1473-0197
974-993
Khoshmanesh, Khashayar
72608a1e-0e41-4360-8065-98d872493aed
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Zhu, Jiu Yang
cf0c4370-07ac-46b9-a051-278e6895169f
Schaefer, Samira
f2aea7cb-6af3-4177-b652-4c1093bd9098
Mitchell, Arnan
33a18604-17e3-421e-b895-0f420d332cd4
Kalantar-Zadeh, Kourosh
aded6a64-8612-40b7-aae9-233fbae916a6
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305
Khoshmanesh, Khashayar
72608a1e-0e41-4360-8065-98d872493aed
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Zhu, Jiu Yang
cf0c4370-07ac-46b9-a051-278e6895169f
Schaefer, Samira
f2aea7cb-6af3-4177-b652-4c1093bd9098
Mitchell, Arnan
33a18604-17e3-421e-b895-0f420d332cd4
Kalantar-Zadeh, Kourosh
aded6a64-8612-40b7-aae9-233fbae916a6
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305

Khoshmanesh, Khashayar, Tang, Shi Yang, Zhu, Jiu Yang, Schaefer, Samira, Mitchell, Arnan, Kalantar-Zadeh, Kourosh and Dickey, Michael D. (2017) Liquid metal enabled microfluidics. Lab on a Chip, 17 (6), 974-993. (doi:10.1039/c7lc00046d).

Record type: Review

Abstract

Several gallium-based liquid metal alloys are liquid at room temperature. As ‘liquid’, such alloys have a low viscosity and a high surface tension while as ‘metal’, they have high thermal and electrical conductivities, similar to mercury. However, unlike mercury, these liquid metal alloys have low toxicity and a negligible vapor pressure, rendering them much safer. In comparison to mercury, the distinguishing feature of these alloys is the rapid formation of a self-limiting atomically thin layer of gallium oxide over their surface when exposed to oxygen. This oxide layer changes many physical and chemical properties of gallium alloys, including their interfacial and rheological properties, which can be employed and modulated for various applications in microfluidics. Injecting liquid metal into microfluidic structures has been extensively used to pattern and encapsulate highly deformable and reconfigurable electronic devices including electrodes, sensors, antennas, and interconnects. Likewise, the unique features of liquid metals have been employed for fabricating miniaturized microfluidic components including pumps, valves, heaters, and electrodes. In this review, we discuss liquid metal enabled microfluidic components, and highlight their desirable attributes including simple fabrication, facile integration, stretchability, reconfigurability, and low power consumption, with promising applications for highly integrated microfluidic systems.

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More information

Published date: 21 March 2017
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 481693
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481693
ISSN: 1473-0197
PURE UUID: 1336cd2e-78ec-4f6a-ba43-0f61dd37a0f6
ORCID for Shi Yang Tang: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3079-8880

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 06 Sep 2023 16:48
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:18

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Contributors

Author: Khashayar Khoshmanesh
Author: Shi Yang Tang ORCID iD
Author: Jiu Yang Zhu
Author: Samira Schaefer
Author: Arnan Mitchell
Author: Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh
Author: Michael D. Dickey

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