IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v10y2019i1d10.1038_s41467-019-09325-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Liquid metal-filled magnetorheological elastomer with positive piezoconductivity

Author

Listed:
  • Guolin Yun

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Shi-Yang Tang

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Shuaishuai Sun

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Dan Yuan

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Qianbin Zhao

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Lei Deng

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Sheng Yan

    (The University of Tokyo)

  • Haiping Du

    (University of Wollongong)

  • Michael D. Dickey

    (North Carolina State University)

  • Weihua Li

    (University of Wollongong)

Abstract

Conductive elastic composites have been used widely in soft electronics and soft robotics. These composites are typically a mixture of conductive fillers within elastomeric substrates. They can sense strain via changes in resistance resulting from separation of the fillers during elongation. Thus, most elastic composites exhibit a negative piezoconductive effect, i.e. the conductivity decreases under tensile strain. This property is undesirable for stretchable conductors since such composites may become less conductive during deformation. Here, we report a liquid metal-filled magnetorheological elastomer comprising a hybrid of fillers of liquid metal microdroplets and metallic magnetic microparticles. The composite’s resistivity reaches a maximum value in the relaxed state and drops drastically under any deformation, indicating that the composite exhibits an unconventional positive piezoconductive effect. We further investigate the magnetic field-responsive thermal properties of the composite and demonstrate several proof-of-concept applications. This composite has prospective applications in sensors, stretchable conductors, and responsive thermal interfaces.

Suggested Citation

  • Guolin Yun & Shi-Yang Tang & Shuaishuai Sun & Dan Yuan & Qianbin Zhao & Lei Deng & Sheng Yan & Haiping Du & Michael D. Dickey & Weihua Li, 2019. "Liquid metal-filled magnetorheological elastomer with positive piezoconductivity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09325-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09325-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09325-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-019-09325-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gun-Hee Lee & Ye Rim Lee & Hanul Kim & Do A Kwon & Hyeonji Kim & Congqi Yang & Siyoung Q. Choi & Seongjun Park & Jae-Woong Jeong & Steve Park, 2022. "Rapid meniscus-guided printing of stable semi-solid-state liquid metal microgranular-particle for soft electronics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-09325-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.