Smart hydrogels with liquid metals: Structural design, properties, and applications

Abstract

Liquid metal (LM) smart hydrogel is a kind of multifunctional electronic material with deformable ability. Because it contains LM compared with ordinary hydrogels, it has excellent electrical conductivity while having variability and has good application prospects in wearable materials. By combining LM and hydrogels with different structural designs, a variety of extensibility composites can be further obtained. This paper not only introduces the method of LM and hydrogel composite, but also describes the various properties of LM hydrogel. The applications of LM hydrogels in sensors, actuators, electromagnetic interference shielding, triboelectric nanogenerators, seawater desalination and biomedicine are introduced in detail. Finally, we discuss the main challenges in the current development of LM smart hydrogels and look forward to their future application prospects.