Flexible,
stretchable, and wearable electrically conductive elements
were prepared by coating partially oxidized liquid metals (POLMs)
on cloth material, i.e., nylon lycra fabric (NLF, see details in the
Supporting Information), which were achieved by filling POLMs in fiber
networks. The products show good and stable electrically conductive
properties upon strong twisting and stretching. A wearable electrical
heating function is then demonstrated as a direct application. The
infrared thermal images of the POLM conducting wires indicate that
the distribution of POLMs in NLF is uniform. Time-dependent heating
temperature versus different stretching demonstrates that the POLMs/NLF
heating element is highly reliable and endurable. Moreover, the electrical
resistance remains unchanged after 1000 cycles of bending and twisting.
These characterization methods prove that POLMs can be applied to
clothes and enable ultrathin, comfortable electronic applications.
The low melting gallium‐based liquid metal (LM) is showing tremendous potential in many technologies due to its unique properties. However, the high surface tensions as well as oxidations result in poor wetting capability on most solid surfaces, which limits its practical application. In this work, a simple chemical method is utilized to enable spontaneous wetting of LM on various metal surfaces, such as copper, nickel, and iron. It is found that LM can spread rapidly on the metal substrates treated with CuCl2 solution through reactive‐wetting and metallic bond‐enabled wetting mechanism. The redox reaction between Ga and copper compound and the formation of intermetallic compound via LM phagocytosis help drive LM to wet metal substrates spontaneously. Many factors affecting the wetting behaviors of LM, including surface roughness, crystal size, and ambient environment, are systematically studied. This finding provides a novel strategy to solve the wetting problem of LM and will enable wider applications.
An improved form of LM/indium film/LM sandwich pad with surface micropillar arrays is a high-performance thermal interface material for thermal management.
As an important 2D nanomaterial, boron nitride nanosheet (BNNS) has aroused much academic interest due to its high in‐plane thermal conductivity (TC) and good electrical insulation capability. However, the brittleness and low strength of high‐content BNNS films greatly limit its practical application. In the authors’ work, densely layered films containing 2D exfoliated graphene fluoride sheets (GFS) and BNNS with similar phonon vibrational characteristics and intrinsic high TC, are fabricated via vacuum‐assisted filtration (VAF) using cellulose nanofiber (CNF) as the framework. The strong hydrogen bonding between the ternary components and tight “face‐to‐face” contact between the BNNS/GFS interfaces significantly improve the thermal pathway density. Superior in‐plane TC (55.65 W m−1 K−1) of the nanocomposite can be achieved at the 90 wt% BNNS‐GFS loading, a value of 114% greater than a BNNS/CNF counterpart. Additionally, the as‐prepared papery films show tolerance to bending, folding, humid environment, and high‐temperature flame. The newly developed hybrid films are promising for efficient thermal management applications in many electronic devices.
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