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Recent Advances in Liquid Metal-Based Flexible Devices with Highly Sensitive, Plastic and Biocompatible in Bionic Electronics

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Abstract

Liquid metal-based bionic electronics are a new type of wearable electronic device with high sensitivity, high selectivity, high biocompatibility, and high stretchability, which can provide efficient, convenient, and novel applications in the fields of real-time health detection, extreme environments, electromagnetic signal shielding, in vivo detection, and neural signaling. The combination of liquid metal and a flexible substrate mimics Young’s modulus of biological tendons and the flexible structure inside of the human body, thus enabling the simulation of various human tissues and the detection and transmission of physiological signals, which has promoted the application of biomimetic liquid metal electronics in the field of human health detection. In this review, we provide an up-to-date overview of liquid metal-based bionic flexible devices for wearable electronics, explore the performance potential and development status of liquid metals (LMs), and focus on the technical problems and latest research on liquid metal-based bionic electronic devices that we hope to provide meaningful ideas and reference directions in the research of LMs flexible devices. Firstly, we assess the properties, preparation, and working mechanisms of different classes of LMs and present the selection and fabrication of LMs in biomimetic devices and their excellent intrinsic properties. Then, we present some of the interrelated applications of liquid metal-based putative electronic devices for monitoring various biological signals and electronics based on their unique properties. Finally, we summarize the advantages, challenges, and possible future developments of liquid metal-based biomimetic electronics.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant No. 2021YFA1401103 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61825403, 61921005, and 61674078.

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  1. Fanyu Wang, **di Sun and Yukai Zhou have equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nan**g University, Nan**g, 210093, China

    Fanyu Wang, **di Sun, Yukai Zhou, **n Guo, **g Wu, Lijia Pan & Yi Shi

  2. Zi** Hospital, Nan**g, 210007, China

    **ngming Pan & Yuanyuan Cen

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  1. Fanyu Wang
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Contributions

Conceptualization, FW and XS; validation, XP, YC, LP, and YS; formal analysis, FW and XS; investigation, FW, XS, XG, and JW; resources, XP and YC; data curation, FW, YZ, and XG; writing—original draft preparation, FW, XS, and YZ; writing—review and editing, FW and YZ; visualization, XP, YC, LP, and YS; supervision, LP and YS; project administration, LP and YS; funding acquisition, XP, YC, LP, and YS. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to **ngming Pan, Yuanyuan Cen, Lijia Pan or Yi Shi.

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Wang, F., Sun, X., Zhou, Y. et al. Recent Advances in Liquid Metal-Based Flexible Devices with Highly Sensitive, Plastic and Biocompatible in Bionic Electronics. Biomedical Materials & Devices (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44174-024-00178-0

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