In the paper titled "Jumping Liquid Metal Droplet in Electrolyte Triggered by Solid Metal Particles" appearing in the June 2 issue of Applied Physics Letter, the scientists made an interesting finding on the "jumps" of liquid metal, in which the researchers explained the cause of electron discharge effect between the two.
Another recent paper appearing as the cover story of Journal of Materials Chemistry B published on Aug 28 is about the finding of "Self-Propelled Liquid Metal Motors Steered by Magnetic or Electrical Field for Drug Delivery".
The team also invented a mini vehicle with transformable wheels made out of liquid metal droplet through 3D printing. Their findings on "Liquid Metal Wheeled Small Vehicle for Cargo Delivery" appeared in the June 6 issue of RSC Advances.
In recent years, the team has been working hard on the application and industrialization of liquid metal. "We are lucky to rank at the front of this field but we can't afford the industrial development lagging the academic research. We should seize the historical opportunity to build a world-class liquid metal valley in China," said Liu Jing, the leader of the team.
Last year, when the team published its finding about liquid metal machines that can "eat" substances and then propel itself like a self-fueled motor on Advanced Materials journal, it attracted great attention from across the world and was labeled as real life Terminator.
But scientists said there is still a long way to bring that kind of transformable robot into reality.
