Liquid metal nano-gyroid stretchable transparent conductor for ultra-resilient optoelectronics and electroluminescence
Source abstract
Abstract
The brittle nature of today’s displays, solar cells, and touchscreens leads to adverse economic and environmental impacts, driving the need for thin-film, flexible optoelectronics that are resistant to strain, impact, sharp objects, and liquids. This vision requires cost-effective, scalable production of ultra-resilient transparent conductors capable of withstanding millions of deformation cycles—challenges that nanowire-based electrodes have yet to overcome. In nature, particular insect wings achieve a unique blend of transparency, resilience, and lightness. This inspired us to develop liquid metal-based transparent conductors with nature-inspired gyroid-like nanostructures that outperformed nanowire-based counterparts significantly in conductivity and stretchability (7×), withstanding a record-breaking strain of 1400% and unprecedented stability over 100,000 strain cycles. Unlike nanowire-based electrodes, this electrode is simple, low-cost, scalable, and recyclable. The formation of such a nano-scaffold is beyond the reach of lithographic techniques but is enabled by our unconventional technique: graphene-assisted self-assembly of liquid metal nanodroplets into a porous 3D microstructure. We demonstrate mechanically resilient soft-matter electroluminescent displays with high light intensity and extend their applications to soft robotics, light-emitting muscles, energy harvesting, transparent heaters, and UV sensors. By harnessing the deformability of liquid metal, we demonstrate a transparent pressure-sensing film that converts any display into a pressure-sensing interface.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Nanomaterials and Printing Technologies · Surface Modification and Superhydrophobicity
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (69)
Show source-provided references
1. Wang, S. et al. Skin electronics from scalable fabrication of an intrinsically stretchable transistor array. Nature 555, 83–88 (2018).10.1038/nature25494 ↗
2. Yu, X. et al. Skin-integrated wireless haptic interfaces for virtual and augmented reality. Nature 575, 473–479 (2019).10.1038/s41586-019-1687-0 ↗
3. Sanderson, K. Electronic skin: from flexibility to a sense of touch. Nature 591, 685–687 (2021).10.1038/d41586-021-00739-z ↗
4. Bourzac, K. Moving skin beyond the biological. Nature 563, S96–S98 (2018).10.1038/d41586-018-07434-6 ↗
5. Araromi, O. A. et al. Ultra-sensitive and resilient compliant strain gauges for soft machines. Nature 587, 219–224 (2020).10.1038/s41586-020-2892-6 ↗
6. Reis Carneiro, M., Majidi, C. & Tavakoli, M. Multi-electrode printed bioelectronic patches for long-term electrophysiological monitoring. Adv. Funct. Mater. 32, 2205956 (2022).10.1002/adfm.202205956 ↗
7. Jiang, Y. et al. A universal interface for plug-and-play assembly of stretchable devices. Nature 614, 456–462 (2023).10.1038/s41586-022-05579-z ↗
8. Tavakoli, M. et al. EGaIn-assisted room-temperature sintering of silver nanoparticles for stretchable, inkjet-printed, thin-film electronics. Adv. Mater. 30, 1801852 (2018).10.1002/adma.201801852 ↗
9. Alberto, J. et al. Fully untethered battery-free biomonitoring electronic tattoo with wireless energy harvesting. Sci. Rep. 10, 5539 (2020).10.1038/s41598-020-62097-6 ↗
10. Green Marques, D., Alhais Lopes, P., T. de Almeida, A., Majidi, C. & Tavakoli, M. Reliable interfaces for EGaIn multi-layer stretchable circuits and microelectronics. Lab Chip 19, 897–906 (2019).10.1039/C8LC01093E ↗
11. Sundaram, S. et al. Learning the signatures of the human grasp using a scalable tactile glove. Nature 569, 698–702 (2019).10.1038/s41586-019-1234-z ↗
12. Carneiro, M. R., De Almeida, A. T. & Tavakoli, M. Wearable and comfortable e-textile headband for long-term acquisition of forehead EEG signals. IEEE Sens. J. https://doi.org/10.1109/jsen.2020.3009629(2020).10.1109/jsen.2020.3009629 ↗
13. Tavakoli, M. et al. 3R electronics: scalable fabrication of resilient, repairable, and recyclable soft-matter electronics. Adv. Mater. 34, 2203266 (2022).10.1002/adma.202203266 ↗
14. Nam, V. B. et al. High-temperature, thin, flexible and transparent Ni-based heaters patterned by laser-induced reductive sintering on colorless polyimide. J. Mater. Chem. C Mater. 9, 5652–5661 (2021).10.1039/D1TC00435B ↗
15. Moon, H. et al. Ag/Au/polypyrrole core-shell nanowire network for transparent, stretchable and flexible supercapacitor in wearable energy devices. Sci. Rep. 7, 41981 (2017).10.1038/srep41981 ↗
16. Won, P. et al. Transparent soft actuators/sensors and camouflage skins for imperceptible soft robotics. Adv. Mater. 33, 2002397 (2021).10.1002/adma.202002397 ↗
17. Won, D. et al. Transparent electronics for wearable electronics application. Chem. Rev. 123, 9982–10078 (2023).10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00139 ↗
18. Zhang, Z. et al. High-brightness all-polymer stretchable LED with charge-trapping dilution. Nature 603, 624–630 (2022).10.1038/s41586-022-04400-1 ↗
19. Matsuhisa, N. et al. High-frequency and intrinsically stretchable polymer diodes. Nature 600, 246–252 (2021).10.1038/s41586-021-04053-6 ↗
20. Park, S. et al. Self-powered ultra-flexible electronics via nano-grating-patterned organic photovoltaics. Nature 561, 516–521 (2018).10.1038/s41586-018-0536-x ↗
21. Yu, J. et al. Highly stretchable, transparent and conductive double-network ionic hydrogels for strain and pressure sensors with ultrahigh sensitivity. J. Mater. Chem. C Mater. 9, 3635–3641 (2021).10.1039/D0TC05242F ↗
22. Yang, B. & Yuan, W. Highly stretchable and transparent double-network hydrogel ionic conductors as flexible thermal-mechanical dual sensors and electroluminescent devices. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 16765–16775 (2019).10.1021/acsami.9b01989 ↗
23. Carvalho, F. M. et al. Nondrying, sticky hydrogels for the next generation of high-resolution conformable bioelectronics. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2, 3390–3401 (2020).10.1021/acsaelm.0c00653 ↗
24. Cui, N. et al. Stretchable transparent electrodes for conformable wearable organic photovoltaic devices. npj Flex. Electron. 5, 1–8 (2021).10.1038/s41528-021-00127-7 ↗
25. You, B., Kim, Y., Ju, B. K. & Kim, J. W. Highly Stretchable and waterproof electroluminescence device based on superstable stretchable transparent electrode. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 9, 5486–5494 (2017).10.1021/acsami.6b14535 ↗
26. Zhang, J. et al. Stretchable transparent electrode arrays for simultaneous electrical and optical interrogation of neural circuits in vivo. Nano Lett. 18, 2903–2911 (2018).10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b00087 ↗
27. Cai, L. et al. Highly transparent and conductive stretchable conductors based on hierarchical reticulate single-walled carbon nanotube architecture. Adv. Funct. Mater. 22, 5238–5244 (2012).10.1002/adfm.201201013 ↗
28. Sanati, A. L. et al. Laser-assisted rapid fabrication of large-scale graphene oxide transparent conductors. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 9, 2102343 (2022).10.1002/admi.202102343 ↗
29. Won, S. et al. Double-layer CVD graphene as stretchable transparent electrodes. Nanoscale 6, 6057–6064 (2014).10.1039/C4NR00265B ↗
30. Choo, D. C. & Kim, T. W. Degradation mechanisms of silver nanowire electrodes under ultraviolet irradiation and heat treatment. Sci. Rep. 7, 1696 (2017).10.1038/s41598-017-01843-9 ↗
31. Lin, C.-C., Lin, D.-X. & Lin, S.-H. Degradation problem in silver nanowire transparent electrodes caused by ultraviolet exposure. Nanotechnology 31, 215705 (2020).10.1088/1361-6528/ab724f ↗
32. Pan, C. et al. Visually imperceptible liquid-metal circuits for transparent, stretchable electronics with direct laser writing. Adv. Mater. 30, 1706937 (2018).10.1002/adma.201706937 ↗
33. Lopes, P. A. et al. Bi-phasic Ag-In-Ga-embedded elastomer inks for digitally printed, ultra-stretchable, multi-layer electronics. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 13, 14552–14561 (2021).10.1021/acsami.0c22206 ↗
34. Park, Y. G., An, H. S., Kim, J. Y. & Park, J. U. High-resolution, reconfigurable printing of liquid metals with three-dimensional structures. Sci. Adv. 5, eaaw2844 (2019).10.1126/sciadv.aaw2844 ↗
35. Lear, T. R. et al. Liquid metal particle popping: Macroscale to nanoscale. Extreme Mech. Lett. 13, 126–134 (2017).10.1016/j.eml.2017.02.009 ↗
36. Liu, S. et al. Laser sintering of liquid metal nanoparticles for scalable manufacturing of soft and flexible electronics. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10, 28232–28241 (2018).10.1021/acsami.8b08722 ↗
37. Liu, S., Reed, S. N., Higgins, M. J., Titus, M. S. & Kramer-Bottiglio, R. Oxide rupture-induced conductivity in liquid metal nanoparticles by laser and thermal sintering. Nanoscale 11, 17615–17629 (2019).10.1039/C9NR03903A ↗
38. Cho, C. et al. Monolithically programmed stretchable conductor by laser-induced entanglement of liquid metal and metallic nanowire backbone. Small 18, 2202841 (2022).10.1002/smll.202202841 ↗
39. Kim, M. et al. Nanowire-assisted freestanding liquid metal thin-film patterns for highly stretchable electrodes on 3D surfaces. npj Flex, Electron. 6, 99 (2022).10.1038/s41528-022-00232-1 ↗
40. Kim, M., Lim, H. & Ko, S. H. Liquid metal patterning and unique properties for next-generation soft electronics. Adv. Sci. 10, 2205795 (2023).10.1002/advs.202205795 ↗
41. Zhang, Y. et al. Synthesis of liquid gallium@reduced graphene oxide core-shell nanoparticles with enhanced photoacoustic and photothermal performance. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 144, 6779–6790 (2022).10.1021/jacs.2c00162 ↗
42. Wang, Y., Wang, S., Chang, H. & Rao, W. Galvanic replacement of liquid metal/reduced graphene oxide frameworks. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 7, 2000626 (2020).10.1002/admi.202000626 ↗
43. Creighton, M. A., Yuen, M. C., Morris, N. J. & Tabor, C. E. Graphene-based encapsulation of liquid metal particles. Nanoscale 12, 23995–24005 (2020).10.1039/D0NR05263A ↗
44. Chambel, A. et al. Laser writing of eutectic gallium–indium alloy graphene-oxide electrodes and semitransparent conductors. Adv. Mater. Technol. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202101238 (2021).10.1002/admt.202101238 ↗
45. Kawasaki, H. et al. A liquid metal catalyst for the conversion of ethanol into graphitic carbon layers under an ultrasonic cavitation field. Chem. Commun. 58, 7741–7744 (2022).10.1039/D2CC02510H ↗
46. Struchkov, N. S., Alexandrov, E. V., Romashkin, A. V., Silakov, G. O. & Rabchinskii, M. K. Uniform graphene oxide films fabrication via spray-coating for sensing application. Fuller. Nanotub. Carbon Nanostructures 28, 214–220 (2020).10.1080/1536383X.2019.1686623 ↗
47. Parvini, E. et al. 3R batteries: resilient, repairable, and recyclable based on liquid gallium electrode. Adv. Mater. Technol. https://doi.org/10.1002/ADMT.202301189 (2023).10.1002/ADMT.202301189 ↗
48. Costa, G. et al. 3D printed stretchable liquid gallium battery. Adv. Funct. Mater. 32, e2304716 (2022).10.1002/adfm.202113232 ↗
49. Freitas, M. C., Sanati, A. L., Lopes, P. A., Silva, A. F. & Tavakoli, M. 3D printed gallium battery with outstanding energy storage: toward fully printed battery-on-the-board soft electronics. Small https://doi.org/10.1002/SMLL.202304716 (2024).10.1002/SMLL.202304716 ↗
50. Mitchell, S. K. et al. An easy-to-implement toolkit to create versatile and high-performance HASEL actuators for untethered soft robots. Adv. Sci. 6, 1900178 (2019).10.1002/advs.201900178 ↗
51. Williams, T. L. et al. Dynamic pigmentary and structural coloration within cephalopod chromatophore organs. Nat. Commun. 10, 1–15 (2019).10.1038/s41467-019-08891-x ↗
52. Deravi, L. F. et al. The structure–function relationships of a natural nanoscale photonic device in cuttlefish chromatophores. J. R. Soc. Interface 11, 20130942 (2014).10.1098/rsif.2013.0942 ↗
53. Lopes, P. A., Santos, B. C., de Almeida, A. T. & Tavakoli, M. Reversible polymer-gel transition for ultra-stretchable chip-integrated circuits through self-soldering and self-coating and self-healing. Nat. Commun. 12, 1–10 (2021).10.1038/s41467-021-25008-5 ↗
54. Stauffer, F., Tybrandt, K., Stauffer, F. & Tybrandt, K. Bright stretchable alternating current electroluminescent displays based on high permittivity composites. Adv. Mater. 28, 7200–7203 (2016).10.1002/adma.201602083 ↗
55. Zhou, Y. et al. Stretchable high-permittivity nanocomposites for epidermal alternating-current electroluminescent displays. ACS Mater. Lett. 1, 511–518 (2019).10.1021/acsmaterialslett.9b00376 ↗
56. Stehle, Y. Y., Robertson, E., Cortez, R., Bucinell, R. B. & Vlassiouk, I. V. In-plane and through-plane dielectric properties of graphene oxide membrane: effect of Al3+ modification. Materialia 23, 101442 (2022).10.1016/j.mtla.2022.101442 ↗
57. Kaya, A. et al. An investigation of electrical and dielectric parameters of sol-gel process enabled β-Ga 2 O 3 as a gate dielectric material. IEEE Trans. Electron Dev. 64, 2047–2053 (2017).10.1109/TED.2017.2675990 ↗
58. Im, S. et al. Tunable infrared emissivity using laser-sintered liquid metal nanoparticle films. Adv. Funct. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1002/ADFM.202422453(2024).10.1002/ADFM.202422453 ↗
59. Frey, E. J., Im, S., Bachmann, A. L., Genzer, J. & Dickey, M. D. Patterning of a high surface area liquid metal-carbon composite film using laser processing. Adv. Funct. Mater. 34, 2308574 (2024).10.1002/adfm.202308574 ↗
60. Chen, T., Xue, Y., Roy, A. K. & Dai, L. Transparent and stretchable high-performance supercapacitors based on wrinkled graphene electrodes. ACS Nano 8, 1039–1046 (2014).10.1021/nn405939w ↗
61. Ding, S. et al. One-step fabrication of stretchable copper nanowire conductors by a fast photonic sintering technique and its application in wearable devices. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8, 6190–6199 (2016).10.1021/acsami.5b10802 ↗
62. Kim, B. S. et al. Buckling instability control of 1d nanowire networks for a large-area stretchable and transparent electrode. Adv. Funct. Mater. 30, 1910214 (2020).10.1002/adfm.201910214 ↗
63. Zhou, Y. et al. Bright stretchable electroluminescent devices based on silver nanowire electrodes and high-k thermoplastic elastomers. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10, 44760–44767 (2018).10.1021/acsami.8b17423 ↗
64. Yun, I. et al. Transferable transparent electrodes of liquid metals for bifacial perovskite solar cells and heaters. Nano Energy 93, 106857 (2022).10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.106857 ↗
65. Hu, D., Xu, X., Miao, J., Gidron, O. & Meng, H. A stretchable alternating current electroluminescent fiber. Materials 11, 184 (2018).10.3390/ma11020184 ↗
66. Zhao, C. et al. Fully screen-printed, multicolor, and stretchable electroluminescent displays for epidermal electronics. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 47902–47910 (2020).10.1021/acsami.0c12415 ↗
67. Cai, L. et al. Direct printing for additive patterning of silver nanowires for stretchable sensor and display applications. Adv. Mater. Technol. 3, 1700232 (2018).10.1002/admt.201700232 ↗
68. Zhang, Z. et al. A one-dimensional soft and color-programmable light-emitting device. J. Mater. Chem. C Mater. 6, 1328–1333 (2018).10.1039/C7TC04587E ↗
69. Shi, X. et al. A self-healing and stretchable light-emitting device. J. Mater. Chem. C Mater. 6, 12774–12780 (2018).10.1039/C8TC02828A ↗