Abstract

Liquid metal is increasingly attracting attention because of the fluidity properties and the electrical and thermal conductivity of metals. However, the preparation of stable liquid metal nanoparticles (LM NPs) is facing a great challenge. Liquid metal is prone to be oxidized when exposed to water and air. Because of the high density and surface tension, liquid metal tends to aggregate and precipitate. To address this challenge, we have developed a grinding technology that not only produces LM NPs with a narrower size distribution but also has high production efficiency and high concentration (more than 10 wt.%). A new polymer was synthesized to reduce the particle size and stabilize the NPs during the grinding process. The LM NPs stabilized with comb-like polymer have a smaller diameter of about 120 nm in deionized water and 80 nm in propylene glycol methyl ether (PM), which can maintain relative stability for a period of >90 days. The high concentration LM NPs play an important role in the fields of electronic product cooling, biomedicine, tissue engineering, intelligent hardware, 3 D printing, flexible electronics, artificial intelligence, aerospace, and so on.

摘要

由于金属的流动性和导电性和导热性，液态金属越来越受到关注。然而，稳定液态金属纳米粒子（LM NPs）的制备正面临着巨大的挑战。液态金属暴露在水和空气中时容易被氧化。由于高密度和表面张力，液态金属倾向于聚集和沉淀。为了应对这一挑战，我们开发了一种研磨技术，不仅可以生产尺寸分布更窄的 LM NP，而且还具有高生产效率和高浓度（超过 10 wt.%）。合成了一种新的聚合物，以在研磨过程中减小粒径并稳定纳米颗粒。用梳状聚合物稳定的 LM NPs 在去离子水中的直径较小，约为 120 nm，在丙​​二醇甲醚 (PM) 中为 80 nm，可保持相对稳定性 > 90 天。高浓度LM NPs在电子产品冷却、生物医学、组织工程、智能硬件、3D打印、柔性电子、人工智能、航空航天等领域发挥着重要作用。