Preliminary Study on Gallium-Based Particle Synthesis by Ultrasonication for Microfluid Application

Abstract

Gallium-based liquid metals have been used widely in many industries because of their unique properties such as high electrical conductivity, the superconductive character at low temperature, and high thermal conductivity. For heat management application, Gallium based metal can be used directly in the liquid form, or in solid particle form. The solid form, however, has extensive application because it can be used as a microparticle additive to create a microfluid. In this research, the ultrasonic oscillator was used to synthesize sub-micron Gallium based particles. Ethanol and Polyethylene Glycol was used and compared as a medium during ultrasonication. Up to 15 %wt of the solid particle was successfully synthesized from one gram of liquid metal source using this simple method.