Discovery of voltage induced superfluid-like penetration effect in liquid metals at room temperature

TL;DR

This paper reports a voltage-induced superfluid-like penetration effect in room temperature liquid metals, enabled by oxidation reducing surface tension, with potential applications in microfluidics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel voltage-controlled penetration phenomenon in liquid metals at room temperature, mimicking superfluid properties.

Findings

Liquid metal can penetrate porous materials under voltage.

Oxidation reduces surface tension to near-zero.

Potential for new microfluidic applications.

Abstract

We have discovered that room temperature liquid metal is capable of penetrating through macro- and microporous materials by applying a voltage. In this work, we demonstrate the liquid metal penetration effect in various porous materials such as tissue paper, thick and fine sponges, fabrics, and meshes. The penetration effect mimics one of the three well-known superfluid properties of liquid helium superfluid that only occur at near-zero Kelvin. The underlying mechanism is that the high surface tension of liquid metal can be significantly reduced to near-zero due to the voltage induced oxidation of the liquid metal surface in a solution. It is the extremely low surface tension and gravity that cause the liquid metal to superwet the solid surface, leading to the penetration phenomena. Our findings offer new opportunities for novel microfluidic applications and could promote further discovery of more exotic fluid states of liquid metals.