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LIQUID METALS

Liquid assets for soft electronics

Nature Materials volume 20, pages 714–715 (2021)Cite this article

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Liquid-metal networks have been developed that can be stretched to extreme deformations with minimal change in electrical resistance, ushering in approaches for breathable and integrated soft and stretchable electronic devices.

Electronics are everywhere. Inside an electronic device, the properties of silicon and other familiar materials seem to enable everything one could want: speed, precision, power. But as we move toward a technologically immersive world where electronics and robots are worn and interact with humans, suddenly we are confronted with a problem: conventional electronics are rigid, inextensible, and flat whereas humans are soft, stretchable, and curved. To overcome this challenge, what if we could replace solid electronic materials like copper with something completely different: liquids. In two independent studies published in Nature Materials, Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio and colleagues1 and Zijian Zheng and colleagues2 report approaches that utilize liquid-metal networks to achieve highly conductive, ultra-stretchable, and mechanically robust electronics. Taken together, these works show how liquid conductors may pave the way for breathable, integrated devices for next generation, skin-like electronics.

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Fig. 1: Stretchable electronics with liquid metals.

Panels reproduced with permission from ref. 1 (a) and ref. 2 (b), Springer Nature Ltd.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soft Materials and Structures Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Michael D. Bartlett

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  1. Michael D. Bartlett
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Correspondence to Michael D. Bartlett.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Bartlett, M.D. Liquid assets for soft electronics. Nat. Mater. 20, 714–715 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00939-y

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