Liquid metal bubbles

Abstract Classical bubbles are ubiquitous in nature, throughout industrial production and daily life. So far, tremendous researches on bubbles are mostly focused on aqueous or lipid systems. In this study, a new conceptual bubble system based on liquid metals, whose surface tension is nearly eight times larger than that of water, is proposed and demonstrated. Such liquid metal bubbles display a series of completely different features over the existing bubbles generated via common liquids, especially those composed of conventional aqueous solutions. Through delivering fluids inside the interior of liquid metal system, we successfully achieved the regulation of liquid metal surface with diverse morphologies, including forming single bubble, hole and multi-bubble clusters etc. For more precise manipulations, the solution environment where liquid metal is immersed into can be divided into “film-forming” and “remover” species, enabling the control of generation and vanishing of oxide on the metal surface in particular area through different combinations, resulting in the complicated administration and control of liquid metal matters. Further, the electrical characteristics of these morphologies were justified and disclosed to be capable of building logic circuits. Along this way, a display device was developed to exhibit various patterns, showing or even storing information inside. Overall, the liquid metal bubble as well as its periodic excitation opens applications in diverse areas, including but not limited to soft robotics, logic system, or underwater circuits.