Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals

Shuhada A. Idrus-Saidi; Jianbo Tang; Stephanie Lambie; Jialuo Han; Mohannad Mayyas; Mohammad B. Ghasemian; Francois Marie Allioux; Shengxiang Cai; Pramod Koshy; Peyman Mostaghimi; Krista G. Steenbergen; Amanda S. Barnard; Torben Daeneke; Nicola Gaston; Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

doi:10.1126/science.abm2731

Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals

Shuhada A. Idrus-Saidi, Jianbo Tang^*, Stephanie Lambie, Jialuo Han, Mohannad Mayyas, Mohammad B. Ghasemian, Francois Marie Allioux, Shengxiang Cai, Pramod Koshy, Peyman Mostaghimi, Krista G. Steenbergen, Amanda S. Barnard, Torben Daeneke^*, Nicola Gaston^*, Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

78 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The low-melting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1118-1124
Number of pages	7
Journal	Science
Volume	378
Issue number	6624
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm2731
Publication status	Published - 9 Dec 2022

Access to Document

10.1126/science.abm2731

Cite this

@article{e2e510242ab940b19a2e91701d8d5cc5,

title = "Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals",

abstract = "In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The low-melting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents.",

author = "Idrus-Saidi, {Shuhada A.} and Jianbo Tang and Stephanie Lambie and Jialuo Han and Mohannad Mayyas and Ghasemian, {Mohammad B.} and Allioux, {Francois Marie} and Shengxiang Cai and Pramod Koshy and Peyman Mostaghimi and Steenbergen, {Krista G.} and Barnard, {Amanda S.} and Torben Daeneke and Nicola Gaston and Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1126/science.abm2731",

language = "English",

volume = "378",

pages = "1118--1124",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6624",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals

AU - Idrus-Saidi, Shuhada A.

AU - Tang, Jianbo

AU - Lambie, Stephanie

AU - Han, Jialuo

AU - Mayyas, Mohannad

AU - Ghasemian, Mohammad B.

AU - Allioux, Francois Marie

AU - Cai, Shengxiang

AU - Koshy, Pramod

AU - Mostaghimi, Peyman

AU - Steenbergen, Krista G.

AU - Barnard, Amanda S.

AU - Daeneke, Torben

AU - Gaston, Nicola

AU - Kalantar-Zadeh, Kourosh

PY - 2022/12/9

Y1 - 2022/12/9

N2 - In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The low-melting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents.

AB - In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The low-melting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85143562686&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1126/science.abm2731

DO - 10.1126/science.abm2731

M3 - Article

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 378

SP - 1118

EP - 1124

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6624

ER -

Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this