Liquid Metal Droplets-Based Elastomers from Electric Toothbrush-Inspired Revolving Microfluidics.

Abstract

Liquid metal (LM)-based elastomers have a demonstrated value in flexible electronics. Attempts in this area include the development of multifunctional LM-based elastomers with controllable morphology, superior mechanical performances, and great stability. Herein, inspired by the working principle of electric toothbrushes, a revolving microfluidic system is presented for the generation of LM droplets and construction of desired elastomers. The system involves revolving modules assembled by a needles array and 3D microfluidic channels. LM droplets can be generated with controllable size in a high-throughput manner due to the revolving motion-derived drag force. It is demonstrated that by employing a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) matrix as the collection phase, the generated LM droplets can act as conductive fillers for the construction of flexible electronics directly. The resultant LM droplets-based elastomers exhibit high mechanical strength, stable electrical performance, as well as superior self-healing property benefiting from the dynamic exchangeable urea bond of the polymer matrix. Notably, due to the flexible programmable feature of the LM droplets embedded within the elastomers, various patterned LM droplets-based elastomers can be easily achieved. These results indicate that the proposed microfluidic LM droplets-based elastomers have a great potential for promoting the development of flexible electronics.