Liquid Metal Switches for Environmentally Responsive Electronics

摘要

More than six decades ago, liquid mercury was used to demonstrate the potential of room-temperature liquid metals as soft circuit elements.[1] This sparked an exploration into using liquid metals to conduct both heat and electricity in systems that are either physically compliant or reconfigurable. General use of mercury is impeded by its toxicity, so in the past decade gallium-based room-temperature liquid metals have begun to replace mercury for use in conductive circuitry applications. The value of flexible and adaptable liquid metal conductors is probably best exemplified in recent soft robotics design, development, and control applications.[2–5] In order to harness the full potential of liquid metal circuitry, more investigation is necessary into the fundamental principles governing liquid metals' behavior, as well as possible applications for these liquid metals.