The production method is called mechanically sintered gallium-indium nanoparticles. While that’s a mouthful of marbles, it’s actually pretty straightforward. You make the ink by taking liquid metal and dispersing it in a non-metallic solvent using ultrasound. The result is ink that could work in an inkjet-style printer. What happens is the process creates liquid metal nanoparticles, which are small enough to pass through an inkjet printer nozzle. The resulting technique would let you print devices made of liquid metal alloys, the same way you could manufacture ne-off plastic objects using a commercially available 3D printer.Researchers at Purdue University have outlined a way to mass-produce circuits made of liquid-metal alloys using inkjet-printing technology, paving the way for “soft robots” and other kinds of flexible electronics, at least once commercial manufacturing echniques are developed. These devices could involve anything from stretchable garments to pliable robotic designs, for purposes as widespread as therapeutic clothing and new kinds of consumer devices.
“We want to create stretchable electronics that might be compatible with soft machines, such as robots that need to squeeze through small spaces, or wearable technologies that aren’t restrictive of motion,”said Rebecca Kramer, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, in a statement. “Conductors made from liquid metal can stretch and deform without breaking. This process now allows us to print flexible and stretchable conductors onto anything, including elastic materials and fabrics.”
“Liquid metal in its native form is not inkjet-able,” Kramer said. “So what we do is create liquid metal nanoparticles that are small enough to pass through an inkjet nozzle. Sonicating liquid metal in a carrier solvent, such as ethanol, both creates the nanoparticles and disperses them in the solvent. Then we can print the ink onto any substrate. The ethanol evaporates away so we are just left with liquid metal nanoparticles on a surface.”
Once the material is printed, you rejoin the nanoparticles by applying some pressure, which breaks the oxidized gallium skin and makes the material conductive. That also means you can select which parts to activate, which presents a wide array of production applications for the film. This could lead to a new branch of what is becoming known as soft robotics. We’ve already seen examples of it on a microscopic scale that could one day aid in drug delivery or new kinds of surgical procedures. A research paper about the inkjet-style method will appear on April 18 in the journal Advanced Materials.
No comments:
Post a Comment