Recently, room‐temperature liquid metals have attracted increasing attention from researchers owing to their excellent material properties. Systematic interpretation of the potential toxicity issues involved is essential for a wide range of applications, especially in the biomedical and healthcare fields. However, even with the exponential growth of related studies, investigation of the toxicological impact and possible hazards of liquid metals to organisms is still in its infancy. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the current frontier of knowledge on liquid metal toxicology and biocompatibility in different environments. Based on recent studies, this review focuses on Ga and Bi‐based in different states. It is necessary to evaluate their toxicity considering the rapid increase in research and utilization of such liquid metal composites. Finally, existing challenges are discussed and suggestions are provided for further investigation of liquid metal toxicology to clarify the toxicological mechanisms and strategies are provided to avoid adverse effects. In addition to resolving the doubts of public concern about the toxicity of liquid metals, this review is expected to promote the healthy and sustainable development of liquid metal‐based materials and their use in diverse areas, especially those related to health care.

Toxicity and Biocompatibility of Liquid Metals

Stiffness tunable advanced materials have demonstrated their superiority and versatility in diverse areas, while the global pursuit of reversible, intelligent, and fast response for stiffness regulation is growing radically, leaving great challenges for traditional materials. As newly emerging functional metal material, the low melting point alloys (LMPAs) have shown encouraging potential in developing various stiffness regulation strategies owing to their excellent physicochemical and mechanical properties. This article is dedicated to presenting a comprehensive review of the LMPA‐enabled stiffness tunable materials from the aspects of material system, regulation principle and method, capability enabling mechanisms, and application scenarios. First, according to the structural differences, three kinds of LMPA‐enabled stiffness tunable material systems are evaluated. Then, the regulation strategies are elaborated from the fundamental LMPA modifications to dynamical external field controls, and the mainstream stiffness regulation modes are also combed out. Following that, the diversified applications of LMPA enabled stiffness tunable materials are systematically summarized and discussed. Finally, a perspective interpretation of the potentials and challenges of LMPA‐enabled stiffness tunable materials is provided. This article is expected to be important for guiding the future design of smart materials, functional entities, transformable robots, etc.

Low Melting Point Alloys Enabled Stiffness Tunable Advanced Materials

Deformability and self‐adaptability are important for soft robots to deal with uncertain and varying situations and environments during movement and navigation. Droplet‐based robots are great candidates to travel inside narrow and constrained spaces without damaging the interfaces due to their extreme deformability and liquid nature, which enables smooth contact between robots and target spaces. Here, magnetic liquid metal droplet robots, comprising liquid metal and carbonyl iron, that can perform reversible telescopic deformation, bending, and on‐demand locomotion are proposed. The magnetic liquid‐metal‐based robots can perform on‐demand and reversible coalescence and splitting by intricately applying magnetic fields. Importantly, the liquid metal robot can perform phase transition to fix the desired shape after programmable shape encoding. The liquid‐metal‐based soft robots can serve as dynamic and recyclable switches for complex circuits, and are capable of repairing damaged sections of microcircuits by remote actuation, controllable coalescence, and on‐demand circuit welding. This technology provides a new application scenario of droplet‐based soft robots for on‐demand circuit welding and transient recyclable electronics. A preprint version of the article can be found at: https://www.authorea.com/doi/full/10.22541/au.165167005.56125584.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/aisy.202200080

Leech‐Inspired Shape‐Encodable Liquid Metal Robots for Reconfigurable Circuit Welding and Transient Electronics

Flexible stimuli-responsive materials are deformable, stretchable, light-weight, and desirable for smart personal protective equipment (PPE), and as the primarily functional components in the wearable system which spontaneously respond to surrounding variations. These materials enable the traditional PPE who provide passive protection to be smart with the abilities of sensing, actuating, surface changing and self-healing, which enhances the protection and reduces the unintentional occupation injuries. This article presents a critical review of the structure, properties, fundamental mechanisms and current development of flexible stimuli-responsive materials and their potential/present applications to smart PPE, covering strain, pressure, temperature, and gas sensors, biopotential electrodes, exosystems, switchable wetting surfaces and biosafety masks. Scientific and practical challenges along with critical issues and opportunities are also discussed.

Flexible stimuli-responsive materials for smart personal protective equipment

Flexible electronics is one of the most overwhelming and promising technologies available today, receiving widespread attention from both academia and industry. As it continues to evolve, demands on flexible conductive materials are becoming increasingly prominent. Liquid metals (LMs), which combine the compliance of fluids with the electrical conductivity of metals, are excellent candidates among various material options for fabricating flexible electronics. Following more than a decade of development, LM flexible electronics has become a rather promising research field. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary and interpretation of the typical progress in LM flexible electronics so as to promote further advancement in the area. First, modification strategies of LMs, such as oxidation and composite approaches (doped particles or mixed polymers), are systematically digested to improve their performances and increase the formability involved. Furthermore, we divide the LM flexible electronics into three major architectures (LM flexible electronics with channels, LM printed electronics, and LM/polymer flexible electronics) and introduce the core patterning methods for each type. In addition, we provide an overview of the representative applications of LM flexible electronics in the categories of soft sensors, biomedicine, flexible energy, electronic fabrics, etc. Finally, the current challenges and potential directions of LM flexible electronics are discussed. Overall, the past progress, current situation, and future outlook as outlined in full view in the present article is expected to inspire tremendous new opportunities for further fundamental research or practical explorations of LM flexible electronics in the coming time.

Liquid metal flexible electronics: Past, present, and future

Pervasive liquid metal printed electronics: From concept incubation to industry.

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Pervasive liquid metal printed electronics: From concept incubation to industry.