Abstract
Gallium-based liquid metals have attracted attention as a conductive adaptable material that can be shaped to obtain reconfigurability. We demonstrate a two-dimensional array of liquid-metal conductive nodes, in which reconfigurability is achieved by merging and splitting adjacent nodes to reversibly shape a two-dimensional structure. The nodes are reconfigured using three different actuation schemes: 1) pressure-point actuation, where the liquid metal is actuated by pressing on the flexible superstrate; 2) surface-tension self-splitting, where the geometric shape of the node itself exerts a separating force on merged nodes; and 3) electrocapillary actuation where the liquid metal is actuated by a DC electrical signal. This is the first demonstration of a reconfigurable liquid-metal pixel array using liquid-liquid interconnects for prototyping reconfigurable devices. As a proof of concept, the proposed actuation techniques are used to reconfigure a liquid-metal nodal patch antenna, in which the liquid-metal nodes are reversibly connected and disconnected to change the operating frequency and polarization.
Highlights
A reconfigurable system can be reversibly tuned, reshaped, or altered to fulfill a changing objective, and can be classified into various domains such as acoustic, electromagnetic, electronic, fluidic, magnetic, mechanical, photonic, and thermal [1]
The electronic domain can be further divided into digital and analog, with the analog subdomain further subdivided into RF, small-signal, and power [1]
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper merging the fluidic and RF reconfigurable domains using the concept of pixelated liquid metal employing liquid-liquid metal interconnects
Summary
A reconfigurable system can be reversibly tuned, reshaped, or altered to fulfill a changing objective, and can be classified into various domains such as acoustic, electromagnetic, electronic, fluidic, magnetic, mechanical, photonic, and thermal [1]. Elassy et al.: Liquid-Metal Nodal Sheet for Reconfigurable Devices and Circuits elements are connected or disconnected by interconnecting switches [2]–[4]. These antennas are subject to inherent scaling issues due to the large number of switches required, and their performance is limited by the insertion loss introduced by these switches. The liquid metal immediately recovers its shape in the absence of an applied voltage to retain its minimum surface-energy state This phenomenon is constrained by the high width-to-height ratio (30:1) of the liquid-metal channel [14]. We present a reconfigurable liquid-metal nodal patch antenna that demonstrates switchable polarization reconfigurability by connecting/disconnecting specific nodes using the pressure-point split/merging actuation scheme.
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