Solid–Liquid Composites for Soft Multifunctional Materials |
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Authors: | Robert W Style Ravi Tutika Jin Young Kim Michael D Bartlett |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Zürich, 8093 Switzerland;2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Soft Materials and Structures Lab, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, 24061 USA |
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Abstract: | Soft materials with a liquid component are an emerging paradigm in materials design. The incorporation of a liquid phase, such as water, liquid metals, or complex fluids, into solid materials imparts unique properties and characteristics that emerge as a result of the dramatically different properties of the liquid and solid. Especially in recent years, this has led to the development and study of a range of novel materials with new functional responses, with applications in topics including soft electronics, soft robotics, 3D printing, wet granular systems and even in cell biology. Here a review of solid–liquid composites, broadly defined as a material system with at least one, phase-separated liquid component, is provided and discussed their morphology and fabrication approaches, their emergent mechanical properties and functional response, and the broad range of their applications. |
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Keywords: | composites elastocapillarity liquid metals soft electronics soft robotics |
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