Liquid Metals: From Fundamentals to Applications
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2025) | Viewed by 11886

Special Issue Editors
Interests: liquid metals; surface tension; interfacial phenomena; colloidal chemistry; diamond coatings
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Metal and alloy liquids at or near room temperature have intrigued humankind for centuries. Recently, mercury was phased out in ample applications due to its toxicity and safety concerns. In lieu of mercury, gallium-based liquid metals have garnered renewed attention by the scientific community due to their safety and a combination of advantageous thermophysical properties. Further interesting alloys are based on indium (i.e., Field’s metal) and alkali metals.
In particular, gallium-based alloys have been exploited for various applications, ranging from chemical (micro-)reactors and reaction environments (i.e., for galvanic replacement reactions and generation of thin metal oxides) via drug carriers to flexible electronics and thermal interface materials. The application of these alloys requires a fundamental understanding of liquid metals and their behavior (i.e., wetting, adhesion, alloying/corrosion/reactivity, viscosity, melting temperature and so on). Further, it necessitates detailed knowledge on the means to manipulate its properties and shape/location, i.e., for patterning techniques, and to limit liquid metal corrosion/embrittlement.
Therefore, this Special Issue invites research and review articles presenting fundamental knowledge on liquid metals (i.e., thermophysical properties/corrosion), articles bridging the gap between fundamental knowledge and application/device fabrication, and articles illustrating new or improved fabrication strategies or new applications.
Dr. Stephan Handschuh-Wang
Dr. Ben Wang
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- liquid metals
- gallium
- thermophysical properties
- wetting
- nano liquid metals
- patterning techniques
- liquid metal corrosion
- device fabrication
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