Electric Field-Driven Liquid Metal Droplet Generation and Direction Manipulation

A gallium-based liquid metal got high attention recently, due to the excellent material properties that are useful in various research areas. We report here on electric field-induced liquid metal droplet generation and falling direction manipulation. The well-analyzed electro-hydrodynamic method is a selectable way to control the liquid metal, as the liquid metal is conductive. The electric field-induced liquid metal manipulation can be affected by the flow rate (0.05~0.2 mL/min), voltage (0~7 kV), and distance (15 and 30 mm) between electrodes, which changes the volume of the electric field-induced generated liquid metal droplet and the number of the generated droplets. When the electric field intensity increases or the flow rate increases, the generated droplet volume decreases, and the number of droplets increases. With the highest voltage of 7 kV with 15 mm between electrodes at the 0.2 mL/min flow rate, the lowest volume and the largest number of the generated droplets for 10 s were ~10 nL and 541, respectively. Additionally, we controlled the direction of the generated droplet by changing the electric field. The direction of the liquid metal droplet was controlled with the maximum angle of ~12°. Moreover, we exhibited a short circuit demonstration by controlling the volume or falling direction of the generated liquid metal droplet with an applied electric field.

Influence of temperature dependent physical properties on liquid metal droplet impact dynamics

The dynamics of a metal droplet impacting on a substrate surface has been studied in the paper numerically. Numerical solutions of the Navier-Stokes and Energy equations show the evolution of the droplet as it spreads upon impact with the substrate while simultaneously undergoing solidification. The interplay of the different forces including inertia, viscous and surface tension, coupled with solidification of the molten material in layers lead to complex flow dynamics. The change in density and viscosity owing to change in temperature resulting from the cooling process, is found to influence the spreading of the droplet significantly. The model was exercised for three different materials viz. aluminium, copper and nickel to determine the final splat radius as well as spreading time. The surface tension forces as well as solidification rates were found to be the dominant factors in determining the above parameters as well as the shape of the splat during spreading. The results were found to be in good agreement with existing analytical model.

A Study of Dielectrophoresis-Based Liquid Metal Droplet Control Microfluidic Device

This study presents a dielectrophoresis-based liquid metal (LM) droplet control microfluidic device. Six square liquid metal electrodes are fabricated beneath an LM droplet manipulation pool. By applying different voltages on the different electrodes, a non-uniform electric field is formed around the LM droplet, and charges are induced on the surface of the droplet accordingly, so that the droplet could be driven inside the electric field. With a voltage of ±1000 V applied on the electrodes, the LM droplets are driven with a velocity of 0.5 mm/s for the 2.0 mm diameter ones and 1.0 mm/s for the 1.0 mm diameter ones. The whole chip is made of PDMS, and microchannels are fabricated by laser ablation. In this device, the electrodes are not in direct contact with the working droplets; a thin PDMS film stays between the electrodes and the driven droplets, preventing Joule heat or bubble formation during the experiments. To enhance the flexibility of the chip design, a gallium-based alloy with melting point of 10.6 °C is used as electrode material in this device. This dielectrophoresis (DEP) device was able to successfully drive liquid metal droplets and is expected to be a flexible approach for liquid metal droplet control.

Small Universal Mechanical Module Driven by a Liquid Metal Droplet

The Gallium-based liquid metal droplet (LMD) from the micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) has gained much attention due to its precise and sensitive controllability under an electric field. Considerable research progress has...

A new hydrodynamic interpretation of liquid metal droplet motion induced by electrocapillary phenomenon

The Marangoni effect, induced by the surface tension gradient resulting from the gradient of temperature, concentration, or electric potential gradient along the surface, is commonly utilized to manipulate a droplet....