Unconventional locomotion of liquid metal droplets driven by magnetic fields

Abstract

The locomotion of liquid metal droplets enables enormous potential for realizing various applications in microelectromechanical systems (MEMSs), biomimetics, and microfluidics. However, current techniques for actuating liquid metal droplets are either associated with intense electrochemical reactions or require modification of their physical properties by coating/mixing them with other materials. These methods either generate gas bubbles or compromise the stability and liquidity of the liquid metal. Here, we introduce an innovative method for controlling the locomotion of liquid metal droplets using Lorentz force induced by magnetic fields. Remarkably, utilizing a magnetic field to induce actuation avoids the generation of gas bubbles in comparison to the method of forming a surface tension gradient on the liquid metal using electrochemistry. In addition, the use of Lorentz force avoids the need of mixing liquid metals with ferromagnetic materials, which may compromise the liquidity of liquid metals. Most importantly, we discover that the existence of a slip layer for liquid metal droplets distinguishes their actuation behaviors from solid metallic spheres. We investigate the parameters affecting the actuation behavior of liquid metal droplets and explore the science behind its operation. We further conducted a series of proof-of-concept experiments to verify the controllability of our method for actuating liquid metal droplets. As such, we believe that the presented technique represents a significant advance in comparison to reported actuation methods for liquid metals, and possesses the potential to be readily adapted by other systems to advance the fields of MEMS actuation and soft robotics.