3D Printed, Bioinspired, Soft-Matter Electronics based on Liquid Metal Composites: Eco-Friendly, Resilient, Recyclable, and Repairable

Introduction

Liquid3D proposes bioinspired electronics and machines that are soft, resilient, self-healing, shape-morphing, and fully recyclable. Functional sensing/acting/processing/energy cells will be 3D printed using a series of game-changing Liquid Metal-based composites.

Design Freedom

As a result, we will print futuristic soft electronics that sense and interact with humans or the environment. This provides excellent design freedom to scientists for manufacturing complex “living” electronics, while guaranteeing that any possible product coming from these inventions will be resilient, repairable, and recyclable.

Recovery Expectations

I expect that over 80% of microchips and metals in the printed circuits can be recovered. Liquid3D redefines electronics by rethinking the materials, fabrications, and design architectures.

Recent Breakthroughs

These objectives are feasible, thanks to the recent breakthroughs that I made in the field:

1. Discovery of the biphasic (liquid-solid) composite based on Gallium-Indium Liquid Metal (LM), which allowed the first-ever method for room temperature printing of stretchable circuits.
2. A method for the inclusion of microelectronics into ultra-stretchable circuits through self-soldering, self-healing, and self-encapsulating of LM-Polymer composites.

Fundamental Understanding

With Liquid3D, I will develop fundamental understanding and mathematical modeling of biphasic systems, and develop novel room temperature printable composites with sensing/acting/energy storage properties, and methods for recycling them.

Implementation of 3D Electronics

I will investigate novel forms of implementing truly 3D electronics, with distributed functional cells. Liquid3D intends to fundamentally rethink the concept of electronics as we know today:

• From rigid and brittle to soft, resilient, and repairable.
• From polluting to recyclable.
• From battery-dependent to self-powered.
• From 2D to truly 3D.

It proposes a radically new way of making “greener” electronics.

Vision

With Liquid3D, I aim to establish the world-leading center on recyclable and green electronics.