On the Interaction of Surfactants with Gallium‐Based Liquid Metals
Stephan Handschuh‐Wang, Muhammad Rauf, Tiansheng Gan, Wenhui Shang, Xuechang Zhou
Abstract
Abstract Liquid metals have aroused interest in the scientific communities of electronics, engineering and biomedicine. In particular, the stabilization of liquid metal nanodroplets by surfactants and macromolecules has been investigated in the past extensively. Herein, we investigate the change in interfacial tension of the liquid metal Galinstan in contact with aqueous electrolytes upon addition of surfactants in aqueous solutions. We show that is governed by the chemical environment, the structure of the electric double layer (EDL) and the surfactant charge. In most environments a critical micelle concentration (CMC) can be determined, the value of which is in favorable agreement with literature values. Furthermore, based on the selective adsorption of the surfactant, the structure of the EDL is predicted and discussed, and the adsorption of surfactants is employed to mitigate liquid metal droplet coalescence. In this regard, the data suggests that the packing parameter, change in IFT upon surfactant addition and charge density of EDL are the main contributors for liquid metal droplet stability.