Session: 01-01: Liquid Metals
Paper Number: 110804
110804 - Lightweight Soft Conductive Composites Embedded With Liquid Metal Fiber Networks
Conductive liquid metal composites are an emerging class of super-stretchable soft conductors. Recently, liquid metal composites have been demonstrated to have promising applications in soft electronics, sensors, and soft robotics. Existing liquid metal composites usually have a relatively high filling ratio of the liquid metal phase, which not only increases the density but also the material cost. Future applications in soft electronics and robotics highly demand liquid metal composites with low density and high conductivity for large-scale, low-cost, lightweight, and more sustainable applications. This presentation will introduce our recent research progress targeting this need. Specifically, we synthesized lightweight and highly conductive composites embedded with liquid metal fiber networks. Our composites consist of an interconnected liquid metal fiber network embedded in a compliant rubber matrix. The liquid metal fiber network serves as an ultra-lightweight conductive pathway for electrons. We have fabricated liquid metal fiber composites with various fiber networks successfully. The microstructure, mechanical properties, and electro-mechanical behavior of the liquid metal fiber composites are thoroughly studied. Overall, our composites exhibit high electrical conductivity, low volume ratio of liquid metals, strain-insensitive resistance, excellent stretchability, and superior cyclic stability. To demonstrate the potential applications, we showcase the composites as interconnects in stretchable circuits and as electrodes in sensors. The liquid metal fiber composites we developed significantly reduce the material consumption and bulk density, which will promote the large-scale application of liquid metal composites in emerging technologies.
Presenting Author: Jiexian Ma SUNY Binghamton
Presenting Author Biography: Jiexian Ma received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from South China University of Technology. He is currently a PhD candidate at the State University of New York at Binghamton working under the supervision of Professor Pu Zhang. His research focus is multifunctional liquid metal composites.
Lightweight Soft Conductive Composites Embedded With Liquid Metal Fiber Networks
Paper Type
Technical Presentation Only