UNS: A Fundamental Study of Reversible and Giant Surface Activity on Soft Metals

1510772 - dickey该奖项支持对一种新型表面活性剂的基础研究，这种表面活性剂可以通过电控制来操纵液态金属的形状和流动。这些液态金属以镓合金为基础，提供了汞的低毒性替代品，汞是一种常见的液态金属，在历史上因其毒性而受到限制。这些金属是像水一样的液体，但具有与金属相似的电学性质。这种特性的组合可以使电子设备变得柔软、可拉伸或形状可重构。提出的工作重点是一种新的方法来控制液态金属的形状，利用电信号来控制金属的表面特性，从而在小长度尺度上操纵液态金属。利用低电压控制金属形状或流动的能力可能会使新型开关、天线、电线和电子产品成为可能。科学目标集中在理解这种通过电化学沉积（或去除）表面超薄氧化层来控制液态金属界面张力的新方法。与传统的表面活性剂（如肥皂或洗涤剂）不同，这种方法可以显著地调整液态金属的界面张力（从~500 mN/m到接近零），快速且可逆地使用适度的电压（~1 V）。提出的工作旨在通过三个任务来表征表面氧化物对界面张力的作用，从而理解这种复杂的界面系统。这些研究将提供对软材料界面的新的基本理解，反过来，有助于将这种现象扩展到形成表面氧化物的其他材料，以及使用低电压实现涉及形状可重构金属的全新微尺度现象。这项工作还将确立表面氧化物作为一种新型流体表面活性剂的重要性，它会带来一些迄今为止报道过的最大的表面张力变化。该项目将产生控制液态金属形状的新技术，从而实现新型可重构光学、微流体和电子技术。它还将为使用有毒汞以外的液态金属提供新的创新机会奠定基础。这项研究将与一个名为“终结者科学”的扩展模块相结合，该模块将在热门电影的背景下描述液态金属。与北卡罗莱纳州工程场所的合作伙伴关系将确保演讲有适当的针对性和广泛传播。该项目将整合本科生、高中生和交换生的研究项目，并将继续利用这个项目的视觉吸引力来吸引学生。

1510772 - DickeyThis award supports fundamental research on a new class of surfactants that can be controlled electrically to manipulate the shape and flow of liquid metals. These liquid metals are based on alloys of gallium and provide a low-toxicity alternative to mercury, which is a common liquid metal that has been limited historically by its toxicity. These metals are liquids like water, yet have electrical properties similar to metals. This combination of properties could enable electronic devices that are soft, stretchable, or shape-reconfigurable. The proposed work focuses on a new method to control the shape of liquid metals by utilizing electrical signals to control the surface properties of the metal and thereby manipulate the liquid metal at small length scales. The ability to control the shape or flow of metals using low voltages may enable new types of switches, antennas, wires, and electronics.The scientific goals focus on understanding this new method to control the interfacial tension of liquid metal via electrochemical deposition (or removal) of an ultra-thin oxide layer on its surface. Unlike conventional surfactants (e.g., soaps or detergents), this approach can tune the interfacial tension of liquid metal significantly (from ~500 mN/m to near zero), rapidly, and reversibly using only modest voltages (~1 V). The proposed work seeks to understand this complex interfacial system by characterizing the role of the surface oxide on interfacial tension through three tasks. These studies will provide new fundamental understanding of soft material interfaces and in turn, help extend this phenomenon to other materials that form surface oxides as well as enable entirely new micro-scale phenomena involving shape reconfigurable metals using low voltages. The work will also establish the importance of surface oxides as a new class of fluid surfactants, which bring about some of the largest changes in surface tension ever reported.The project will produce new techniques to control the shape of liquid metals and thereby enable new types of reconfigurable optics, microfluidics, and electronics. It will also lay the foundation for new, innovative opportunities for the use of liquid metals that go beyond toxic mercury. The research will be integrated with an outreach module called "The Science of the Terminator" that describes liquid metals within the context of the popular motion picture. A partnership with the Engineering Place at NC State will ensure that the presentations are appropriately targeted and widely disseminated. The project will integrate undergraduate, high school, and exchange students on research projects and will continue to do so with this project by using the visually appealing nature of this project to attract students.