Recent advances for liquid metals: Synthesis, modification and bio-applications

Abstract

• Fabrication and functionalization strategies for liquid metals have been reviewed. • Bio-applications of liquid metals-based biomaterials have been mainly summarized. • Challenges for liquid metals-based biomedical development have been discussed. Considering the application requirements for modern biomedicine, research into novel biomaterials with unusual functions is highly desired. As an alternative, liquid metals (LMs), a nontraditional family of metal materials, have piqued the interest of biomedical researchers and made significant advances in biomedical areas, owing to their shape transformability, self-healing capability, excellent electrical, and thermal conductivities. In particular, many functionalized strategies for the preparation and modification of LMs or LMs-based composites to achieve extended biomedical applications have been investigated in recent years. These findings provided inspiring while constructive reference for the fabrication and engineering of novel LMs-based composites. Herein, in this topic review, we elaborate on the recent advances of LMs-based functional materials, with particular focuses on the synthesis, modification, and bio-applications, especially in antitumor therapy, antibacterial, contrast agent for imaging, bone repair, electronic skin sensor, and nerve connection agent. Further on, the current challenges and future prospects of LMs-based composites are carefully discussed.