Liquid Metal/Metal Oxide Frameworks
K. Kalantar-zadeh1 Shi-Yang Tang, Wie Zhang, Khashayar Khoashmanesh and
Arnan Mitchell
1RMIT
Unibersity, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Melbourne VIC
3001, Australia
e: kourosh.kalantar@rmit.edu.au
Liquid metal marbles, which are droplets of liquid metals encapsulated by
micro- or nanoparticles, are introduced [1]. Droplets of eutectic alloys of liquid metals
are coated with functional materials (such as WO3, TiO2, MoO3 and carbon
nanotubes) by rolling over a powder bed or submerging in colloidal suspensions. It is
shown that these marbles can be split and merged, and are even stable when
moving under the force of gravity and impacting a flat solid surface. Furthermore, the
marble coating can operate as an active electronic junction and the nanomaterial
coated liquid metal marble can act as a highly sensitive electrochemical based heavy
metal ion sensor. They can move on demand either electrochemically [2] or under
the light influence [3]. Additionally, such structures can be used for pumping liquid
without any moving parts [4].
The liquid metal droplets can be further sonicated into smaller micro- and
nanosized spheres which are used for developing a new system described as the
liquid metal/metal oxide (LM/MO) frameworks [5]. The constituents of these
frameworks combine the advantages of both materials. It is shown that the diameters
of the spheres and the stoichiometry of the structures can be actively controlled.
Additionally, the liquid suspension of these spheres demonstrates tuneable plasmon
resonances. These spherical structures are assembled to form LM/MO frameworks
which are capable of demonstrating high sensitivity towards low concentrations of
heavy metal ions, and enhanced solar light driven photocalalytic activities. These
demonstrations imply that the LM/MO frameworks are a suitable candidate for the
development of future high performance electronic and optical devices.
References
[1] V. Sivan, S. Y. Tang, A. P. O'Mullane, P. Petersen, N. Eshtiaghi, K Kalantarzadeh and A Mitchell Adv. Func. Mat. 23 2 144 (2013)
[2] S. Y. Tang, V. Sivan, K. Khoshmanesh, A. P. O'Mullane, X. Tang, B. Gol, N.
Eshtiaghi, F. Lieder, P. Petersen, A. Mitchell and K. Kalantar-zadeh Nanoscale
5 13 5949 (2013)
[3] X. Tang,, S. Y. Tang , V. Sivan, W. Zhang, A. Mitchell and K Kalantar-zadeh
and K. Khoshmanesh App. Phys. Lett. 103. 17 174104 (2013)
[4] S. Y. Tang, K. Khoshmanesh, V. Sivan, P. Petersen, A. P. O'Mullane, D.
Abbott, A. Mitchell and K Kalantar-zadeh Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 111 9 3304
(2014)
[5] W. Zhang, J. Z. Ou, S. Y. Tang, V. Sivan, D. D. Yao, K. Latham, K.
Khoshmanesh, A. Mitchell, A. P. O'Mullane and K. Kalantar-zadeh Adv. Func.
Mat. 24 24 3799 (2014)