Liquid Metals: Stretchable, High-k Dielectric Elastomers through Liquid-Metal Inclusions (Adv. Mater. 19/2016)

Michael D Bartlett; Andrew Fassler; Navid Kazem; Eric J Markvicka; Pratiti Mandal; Carmel Majidi

doi:10.1002/adma.201670133

Liquid Metals: Stretchable, High-k Dielectric Elastomers through Liquid-Metal Inclusions (Adv. Mater. 19/2016)

Adv Mater. 2016 May;28(19):3791. doi: 10.1002/adma.201670133.

Authors

Michael D Bartlett¹, Andrew Fassler¹, Navid Kazem², Eric J Markvicka³, Pratiti Mandal⁴, Carmel Majidi¹

Affiliations

¹ Soft Machines Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
² Soft Machines Lab, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
³ Soft Machines Lab, The Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.
⁴ Laboratory for Transport Phenomena in Energy Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.

PMID: 27167031
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201670133

Abstract

An all-soft-matter composite consisting of liquid metal microdroplets embedded in a soft elastomer matrix is presented by C. Majidi and co-workers on page 3726. This composite exhibits a high dielectric constant while maintaining exceptional elasticity and compliance. The image shows the composite's microstructure captured by 3D X-ray imaging using a nano-computed tomographic scanner.

Keywords: dielectric elastomers; eutectic gallium-indium; liquid-solid interfaces; stretchable electronics.