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Endowing Conventional Materials with Advanced Functions via Liquid Metals: A Route Toward Intelligent Material
Bo Yuan1, Cailin Liu1, Jin Zhang2
1School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|July 31, 2026
Summary
Room-temperature liquid metals offer a versatile method to create intelligent materials. By integrating liquid metals into existing materials, researchers can develop advanced soft and adaptive technologies with enhanced sensing and actuation capabilities.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Soft Robotics
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Growing demand for soft and adaptive technologies.
- Challenges in customizing and integrating smart materials.
- Need for practical routes to functionalize conventional materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- Review recent advances in liquid-metal-enabled intelligent functions.
- Categorize strategies for integrating liquid metals into various materials.
- Discuss challenges and opportunities in liquid metal integration.
Main Methods:
- Surface coating
- Encapsulation
- Layered integration
- Bulk compositing
Main Results:
- Liquid metal integration enables stretchable sensing, adaptive actuation, thermal regulation, energy harvesting, and resistive memory.
- Fluidity, interfacial chemistry, and phase tunability of liquid metals are key to unique responses.
- Common materials like polymers, textiles, and biocompatible substrates can be functionalized.
Conclusions:
- Liquid metal integration provides a broadly applicable route to transform conventional materials into intelligent systems.
- Offers minimal processing complexity compared to de novo synthesis.
- Addresses challenges in interfacial stability, reliability, scalability, and sustainability.
