Team from Yunnan University publishes article in world's top journal

The Liu Qingju team from the School of Materials and Energy of Yunnan University – located in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province – published a review article on Advanced Materials – the world's top comprehensive journal of materials.

The article was entitled Surface Optics and Color Effects of Liquid Metal Materials.

A graphic of color functionalization of liquid metal materials [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

Liquid metal materials have unique application advantages in the field of flexible electronic information.

Flexible electronics is a new electronic technology that makes electronic devices of organic or inorganic materials on flexible and ductile substrates.

Advanced flexible electronic materials have important application potential in biomedicine, intelligent sensors and soft robots.

However, the single color of the materials restricts its application, so color functionalities will open a new application space for liquid metal.

In response, Liu's team systematically analyzed and compared the synthesis methods, structures, properties and applications of colored liquid metals.

After the study, the team said it believed that the color richness, brightness, stability and controllability of the liquid metal surface are crucial to developing its application potential, and the surface composition, structure and optical properties will directly affect the color effect.

The above-related research has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the discipline construction funds of Yunnan University.