Voltage-Assisted Sonication for the Generation of Liquid Metal Particles

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Physical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Mechanical agitation is crucial for liquid metal fragmentation.
• Voltage is known to influence surface tension and sonication-induced fragmentation in liquid metals, particularly gallium (Ga).
• The effect of applied voltage on liquid metal particle formation remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of applied voltage on liquid metal particle formation.
• To explore how surface tension modifications influence particle generation and characteristics.
• To demonstrate the potential of voltage-assisted synthesis for controlled liquid metal particle design.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing ultra-high-speed imaging (up to 100,000 fps) to observe particle formation.
• Applying negative, zero, and positive voltages to liquid Ga during sonication.
• Incorporating secondary metals (indium, zinc, tin) and analyzing surface composition.

Main Results:

• Negative voltage significantly enhanced particle generation, nearly doubling solution turbidity.
• Reduced surface tension with negative voltage and secondary metals increased particle generation and decreased particle size.
• Surface characterization revealed distinct secondary metal migration and oxidation, e.g., Zn migration in Ga-Zn particles forming oxides.
• Synthesized particles showed differences in annealed states for photocatalysis.

Conclusions:

• Voltage-assisted sonication is an effective method for controlling liquid metal particle synthesis.
• Surface tension modulation via voltage and secondary metals allows for tailored particle properties.
• The findings offer insights for designing liquid metal particles for diverse applications, including photocatalysis.