From Liquid Metal droplets to stretchable, self-healing, and sinter-free printed hybrid electronics

When it comes to stretchable electronics, e-textile, smart gloves, and wearable patches, Liquid Metals (LMs) are becoming the number one choice for most researchers. But research on LMs are also entering fields of energy storage, thermal interfaces, displays, energy harvesting, and even carbon capture. This is due to the excellent combination of electrical and thermal conductivity and fluidic deformability, that makes liquid metals the first choice for many applications. However, unlike the electrically conductive inks and pastes, LMs are not easy to deposit and pattern, they are smearing, and interfacing them with microchips is not straight forward. The good news is that these problems are being addresses rapidly, and there are already some steps toward commercialization of LM based electronics.

In this master class I will summarize the research on liquid metals during the last 15 years, and will demonstrate various aspects of liquid metals. The talk will be divided into 3 sections: Materials (Liquid Metals, LM composites, LM micro and Nano droplets), Fabrication Techniques (Deposition, Patterning and Microchip Interfacing) and Applications. I will talk about the results of electromechanical testing, and durability of circuits when subjects to over 100, 000 strain cycles. I will as well talk about the applications in the space of smart textiles, wearable patches, additive manufacturing, and mechanical sensing, and how some of the top manufacturers (e.g. in automotive sector) are already adopting solutions. If time permits, I will briefly talk about how LMs are entering the energy storage field, both as current collectors, and as active electrodes.