Microdroplets of gallium-based liquid metal alloys have enabled various applications in the fields of biomedicine, electronics, and chemistry. However, due to the high surface tension of liquid metal, high-throughput production of uniformly sized liquid metal microdroplets is challenging using conventional acoustic or microfluidic methods. Here, adapting the submerged electrodispersion technique that has conventionally been used for generating water-based microdroplets, we develop a simple and straightforward platform for the high-throughput production of near-monodisperse (coefficient of variation less than 5%) liquid metal microdroplets in oil without using microfluidic devices. We demonstrate the capabilities of this method for producing liquid metal microdroplets (diameters ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers) and introduce a spinning disk to induce a flow of oil phase for preventing the coalescence of the microdroplets. The simplicity and remarkable abilities demonstrated for this method may pave the path for the development of future innovative applications based on liquid metal microdroplets.
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15 April 2019
Research Article|
April 17 2019
High-throughput production of uniformly sized liquid metal microdroplets using submerged electrodispersion
Yuxin Zhang
;
Yuxin Zhang
a)
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong
, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Shi-Yang Tang;
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong
, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Qianbin Zhao;
Qianbin Zhao
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong
, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Guolin Yun;
Guolin Yun
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong
, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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Dan Yuan;
Dan Yuan
School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong
, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
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a)
Contributions: Y. Zhang and S.-Y. Tang contributed equally to this work.
Appl. Phys. Lett. 114, 154101 (2019)
Article history
Received:
December 20 2018
Accepted:
April 01 2019
Citation
Yuxin Zhang, Shi-Yang Tang, Qianbin Zhao, Guolin Yun, Dan Yuan, Weihua Li; High-throughput production of uniformly sized liquid metal microdroplets using submerged electrodispersion. Appl. Phys. Lett. 15 April 2019; 114 (15): 154101. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5086376
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