Phase Separation in Liquid Metal Nanoparticles
Phase Separation in Liquid Metal Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles produced from gallium-based liquid metal alloys have been explored for developing applications in the fields of electronics, catalysis, and biomedicine. Nonetheless, physical properties, such as phase behavior at micro-/nanosize scale, are still significantly underexplored for such nanoparticles. Here, we conduct an in situ investigation of phase behavior for gallium-based liquid metal nanoparticles and discover the unprecedented coexistence of solid particles in spherical liquid metal shells without the support of a crystalline substrate. The particles can also transform into solid Janus nanoparticles after temperature cycling. In addition, we investigate the optical properties of the nanoparticles before and after phase separation using in situ electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Most importantly, we discover that increasing the content of indium within the nanoparticle can stabilize the solid-core/liquid-shell structure at room temperature. This study provides a foundation to engineer liquid metal nanoparticles for developing new applications in nanoscale optical platforms and shape-configurable transformers.
bulk plasmon, core-shell structure, EELS, EGaIn, Janus particle, liquid metal, MAP 2: Benchmark, nanoparticles, phase separation, surface plasmon resonance
192-204
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Mitchell, David R.G.
68b69711-7879-4997-9255-6ed747c6bf19
Zhao, Qianbin
4e956b7f-4fb6-42fa-9a3b-b9a7c3703493
Yuan, Dan
76b9b77e-dda5-4682-8db0-75bfad1d1258
Yun, Guolin
240c3dc9-c224-41c0-8740-de165d1eb90b
Zhang, Yuxin
f858a4e3-2841-46cb-a6d7-a5230e25f467
Qiao, Ruirui
cf0ce629-af33-47c2-81c5-6d62ccf80f7e
Lin, Yiliang
e6d919e1-9c9f-4600-a4e6-49b0672509d4
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
10 July 2019
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Mitchell, David R.G.
68b69711-7879-4997-9255-6ed747c6bf19
Zhao, Qianbin
4e956b7f-4fb6-42fa-9a3b-b9a7c3703493
Yuan, Dan
76b9b77e-dda5-4682-8db0-75bfad1d1258
Yun, Guolin
240c3dc9-c224-41c0-8740-de165d1eb90b
Zhang, Yuxin
f858a4e3-2841-46cb-a6d7-a5230e25f467
Qiao, Ruirui
cf0ce629-af33-47c2-81c5-6d62ccf80f7e
Lin, Yiliang
e6d919e1-9c9f-4600-a4e6-49b0672509d4
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
Tang, Shi Yang, Mitchell, David R.G., Zhao, Qianbin, Yuan, Dan, Yun, Guolin, Zhang, Yuxin, Qiao, Ruirui, Lin, Yiliang, Dickey, Michael D. and Li, Weihua
(2019)
Phase Separation in Liquid Metal Nanoparticles.
Matter, 1 (1), .
(doi:10.1016/j.matt.2019.03.001).
Abstract
Nanoparticles produced from gallium-based liquid metal alloys have been explored for developing applications in the fields of electronics, catalysis, and biomedicine. Nonetheless, physical properties, such as phase behavior at micro-/nanosize scale, are still significantly underexplored for such nanoparticles. Here, we conduct an in situ investigation of phase behavior for gallium-based liquid metal nanoparticles and discover the unprecedented coexistence of solid particles in spherical liquid metal shells without the support of a crystalline substrate. The particles can also transform into solid Janus nanoparticles after temperature cycling. In addition, we investigate the optical properties of the nanoparticles before and after phase separation using in situ electron energy-loss spectroscopy. Most importantly, we discover that increasing the content of indium within the nanoparticle can stabilize the solid-core/liquid-shell structure at room temperature. This study provides a foundation to engineer liquid metal nanoparticles for developing new applications in nanoscale optical platforms and shape-configurable transformers.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 10 July 2019
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
S.-Y.T. is the recipient of the Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellowship funded by the University of Wollongong. This research used the JEOL JEM-ARM200F funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grant ( LE120100104 ) located at the UOW Electron Microscopy Center. W.L. acknowledges the support from the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant ( DP180100055 ). M.D.D. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
Keywords:
bulk plasmon, core-shell structure, EELS, EGaIn, Janus particle, liquid metal, MAP 2: Benchmark, nanoparticles, phase separation, surface plasmon resonance
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 481718
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481718
ISSN: 2590-2393
PURE UUID: a37cf5a0-7ca1-49e1-a1d8-0a3916740baa
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 06 Sep 2023 16:50
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:18
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Shi Yang Tang
Author:
David R.G. Mitchell
Author:
Qianbin Zhao
Author:
Dan Yuan
Author:
Guolin Yun
Author:
Yuxin Zhang
Author:
Ruirui Qiao
Author:
Yiliang Lin
Author:
Michael D. Dickey
Author:
Weihua Li
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics