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Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets

[Image: see text] Eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) is increasingly employed as an interfacial conductor material in molecular electronics and wearable healthcare devices owing to its ability to be shaped at room temperature, conductivity, and mechanical stability. Despite this emerging usage, the mec...

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Autores principales: Amini, Shahrouz, Chen, Xiaoping, Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah, Tee, Jinq Shi, Nijhuis, Christian A., Miserez, Ali
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2022
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227710/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35649179
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c04043
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author Amini, Shahrouz
Chen, Xiaoping
Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah
Tee, Jinq Shi
Nijhuis, Christian A.
Miserez, Ali
author_facet Amini, Shahrouz
Chen, Xiaoping
Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah
Tee, Jinq Shi
Nijhuis, Christian A.
Miserez, Ali
author_sort Amini, Shahrouz
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] Eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) is increasingly employed as an interfacial conductor material in molecular electronics and wearable healthcare devices owing to its ability to be shaped at room temperature, conductivity, and mechanical stability. Despite this emerging usage, the mechanical and physical mechanisms governing EGaIn interactions with surrounding objects—mainly regulated by surface tension and interfacial adhesion—remain poorly understood. Here, using depth-sensing nanoindentation (DSN) on pristine EGaIn/GaO(x) surfaces, we uncover how changes in EGaIn/substrate interfacial energies regulate the adhesive and contact mechanic behaviors, notably the evolution of EGaIn capillary bridges with distinct capillary geometries and pressures. Varying the interfacial energy by subjecting EGaIn to different chemical environments and by functionalizing the tip with chemically distinct self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), we show that the adhesion forces between EGaIn and the solid substrate can be increased by up to 2 orders of magnitude, resulting in about a 60-fold increase in the elongation of capillary bridges. Our data reveal that by deploying molecular junctions with SAMs of different terminal groups, the trends of charge transport rates, the resistance of monolayers, and the contact interactions between EGaIn and monolayers from electrical characterizations are governed by the interfacial energies as well. This study provides a key understanding into the role of interfacial energy on geometrical characteristics of EGaIn capillary bridges, offering insights toward the fabrication of EGaIn junctions in a controlled fashion.
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spelling pubmed-92277102022-06-25 Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets Amini, Shahrouz Chen, Xiaoping Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah Tee, Jinq Shi Nijhuis, Christian A. Miserez, Ali ACS Appl Mater Interfaces [Image: see text] Eutectic gallium–indium (EGaIn) is increasingly employed as an interfacial conductor material in molecular electronics and wearable healthcare devices owing to its ability to be shaped at room temperature, conductivity, and mechanical stability. Despite this emerging usage, the mechanical and physical mechanisms governing EGaIn interactions with surrounding objects—mainly regulated by surface tension and interfacial adhesion—remain poorly understood. Here, using depth-sensing nanoindentation (DSN) on pristine EGaIn/GaO(x) surfaces, we uncover how changes in EGaIn/substrate interfacial energies regulate the adhesive and contact mechanic behaviors, notably the evolution of EGaIn capillary bridges with distinct capillary geometries and pressures. Varying the interfacial energy by subjecting EGaIn to different chemical environments and by functionalizing the tip with chemically distinct self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), we show that the adhesion forces between EGaIn and the solid substrate can be increased by up to 2 orders of magnitude, resulting in about a 60-fold increase in the elongation of capillary bridges. Our data reveal that by deploying molecular junctions with SAMs of different terminal groups, the trends of charge transport rates, the resistance of monolayers, and the contact interactions between EGaIn and monolayers from electrical characterizations are governed by the interfacial energies as well. This study provides a key understanding into the role of interfacial energy on geometrical characteristics of EGaIn capillary bridges, offering insights toward the fabrication of EGaIn junctions in a controlled fashion. American Chemical Society 2022-06-01 2022-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9227710/ /pubmed/35649179 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c04043 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Permits the broadest form of re-use including for commercial purposes, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Amini, Shahrouz
Chen, Xiaoping
Chua, Jia Qing Isaiah
Tee, Jinq Shi
Nijhuis, Christian A.
Miserez, Ali
Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title_full Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title_fullStr Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title_full_unstemmed Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title_short Interplay between Interfacial Energy, Contact Mechanics, and Capillary Forces in EGaIn Droplets
title_sort interplay between interfacial energy, contact mechanics, and capillary forces in egain droplets
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9227710/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35649179
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsami.2c04043
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