journal article·2025-11

A Dynamically Stabilizing, All‐Soft and Highly Stretchable Liquid Metal‐Based Power Device

Richard Fuchs, Shi‐Yang Tang, Lucy Johnston, Dewei Chu, Priyank V Kumar, Shuhua Peng, Kourosh Kalantar‐Zadeh, Jianbo Tang

Small· Volume 21· Issue 47
Publisher page

Abstract

Abstract Soft electronics require equally soft power sources, which have been designed to be flexible but remain limited in their stretchability to date. Here, a highly stretchable liquid metal‐based power device is reported, achieved through an all‐soft design. Inspired by the soft architecture and modular arrangements of electrocytes, individual electrochemical cells are constructed by integrating liquid metal, hydrogel electrolyte, silver grease, and elastomeric encapsulation. Serial and parallel cell configurations enable reliable output power scale up. Such an all‐soft design effectively overcomes mechanical mismatching, allowing the device to maintain stability and output performance under large deformations, such as bending, twisting, and stretching (>350% strain). When the device is operating under mechanical deformations, the liquid metal surface recovers from oxidation to improve output performance. The dynamic mechanical robustness and electrical output stability of the power device are demonstrated in powering model electronic circuits, bio‐inspired sensors, and digital wristwatches. This work extends the stretchability of soft power devices with an all‐soft, scalable design.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

School of Chemical Engineering University of New South Wales (UNSW) Kensington NSW 2052 Australia

School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering University of New South Wales (UNSW) Kensington NSW 2052 Australia

School of Materials Science and Engineering University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney NSW 2052 Australia

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of Sydney Darlington NSW 2008 Australia

Department of Materials Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Research Center for Industries of the Future Westlake University Hangzhou 310030 China

Funding

Australian Research Council

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