Self-Healing Flexible Conductive Film by Repairing Defects via Flowable Liquid Metal Droplets

Ruiwen Niu; Mingliang Jin; Jieping Cao; Zhibin Yan; Jinwei Gao; Hao Wu; Guofu Zhou; Lingling Shui

doi:10.3390/mi10020113

Self-Healing Flexible Conductive Film by Repairing Defects via Flowable Liquid Metal Droplets

Micromachines (Basel). 2019 Feb 11;10(2):113. doi: 10.3390/mi10020113.

Authors

Ruiwen Niu^{1

2}, Mingliang Jin^{3

4}, Jieping Cao^{5

6}, Zhibin Yan^{7

8}, Jinwei Gao^{9

10}, Hao Wu^{11

12}, Guofu Zhou^{13

14}, Lingling Shui^{15

16}

Affiliations

¹ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. niuruiwen@m.scnu.edu.cn.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. niuruiwen@m.scnu.edu.cn.
³ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. jinml@scnu.edu.cn.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. jinml@scnu.edu.cn.
⁵ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. caojieping@m.scnu.edu.cn.
⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. caojieping@m.scnu.edu.cn.
⁷ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. zhibin.yan@m.scnu.edu.cn.
⁸ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. zhibin.yan@m.scnu.edu.cn.
⁹ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. gaojw@scnu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. gaojw@scnu.edu.cn.
¹¹ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. haowu_cn@foxmail.com.
¹² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. haowu_cn@foxmail.com.
¹³ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. guofu.zhou@m.scnu.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. guofu.zhou@m.scnu.edu.cn.
¹⁵ National Center for International Research on Green Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. shuill@m.scnu.edu.cn.
¹⁶ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology and Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China. shuill@m.scnu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Self-healing flexible conductive films have been fabricated, evaluated, and applied. The film is composed of a fragile indium tin oxide (ITO) layer covered with sprayed liquid metal (LM) droplets. Self-healing of electrical conductivity is achieved via spontaneous capillary wicking of LM droplets into cracks/defects of the ITO film. The liquid metal adhering onto the ITO layer can also connect the ITO fragments during bending to keep the overall conductivity of the composite LM/ITO film stable. Stable and reversible electrowetting performance has been achieved with the composite LM/ITO as the conductive film, in either flat or curved states.

Keywords: conductive film; electrowetting; liquid metal; self-healing.

Abstract

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