Articles comprising core shell liquid metal encapsulate networks and method to control alternating current signals and power

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020139329-A1
Application number	US-201916580652-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 24, 2019
Priority date	Nov 2, 2018
Publication date	May 7, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to articles comprising core shell liquid metal encapsulate networks and methods of using core shell liquid metal encapsulate networks to control AC signals and power. Such method permits the skilled artisan to control the radiation, transmission, reflection and modulation of an AC signal and power. As a result, AC system properties such as operation frequency, polarization, gain, directionality, insertion loss, return loss, and impedance can be controlled under strain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An article comprising at least one conductive material and at least one dielectric material, said conductive material and/or said dielectric material comprising an activated core shell liquid metal encapsulate network when said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network material is the conductive material and an unactivated core shell liquid metal encapsulate network when said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network is the dielectric material, said at least one conductive material being capable of conducting alternating current greater than 0 GHz to about 20 GHz, said at least one dielectric material having a resistivity greater than or equal to 100,000 ohms-meter to said alternating current, said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network comprising a plurality of encapsulates, said encapsulates comprising a liquid metal core having an external surface, a metal oxide shell that encapsulates said liquid metal core, said shell having an external shell surface; and one or more multi-functional ligands covalently bound to said shell's external surface and/or coordinatively bound to said liquid metal core's external surface; said encapsulates' being chemically bound via a linkage comprising a residue of ligands of said encapsulates to the external shell of an encapsulate other than the external shell of the encapsulate to which said ligands were originally covalently or coordinatively bound thus forming said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network:
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal selected from the group consisting of Hg, Pb, Sn, Sb, Cd, Bi, Ga, In, Al, Zn, Ag, Au, Tl and mixtures thereof; b) said encapsulates' shell material comprises a metal oxide comprising a cation derived from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, In, Sn, Pb, Sb, Cd, Al, Zn, Tl, Bi, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Te, Gd, Hf, Pr, Nd, Pt, Sm, Eu, Dy, Ho, Er, Yb, Pu and mixtures thereof; and c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprising a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of thiols, amines, phosphonic acids, alkoxysilanes, halosilanes, carboxylic acids, nitriles, and mixtures thereof.

2 . An article according to claim 1 , wherein:
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, In, Sn, Bi, Pb, Cd, Sb and mixtures thereof; b) said encapsulates' shell material comprises a metal oxide comprising a cation derived from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, Al, Zn, Sc, Ti, Cr, Zr, Nb, Gd, Nd, Sm and mixtures thereof, and c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprising a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of thiols, phosphonic acids, trialkoxysilanes, trichlorosilanes, and mixtures thereof;

3 . An article according to claim 2 , wherein:
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, In, Sn, Bi, Sb and mixtures thereof, b) said encapsulates' shell material comprises a metal oxide comprising a cation derived from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, Al, Zn, Gd, Nd and mixtures thereof, and c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprising a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of thiols, trialkoxysilanes or phosphonic acids, and one or more additional moieties selected from the group consisting of a hydrosilane, a cyclic ester, an azide, an alcohol, an alkyne, an alkene, an isocyanate, a conjugated diene, an imine, a boronate ester, a conjugated ring, a carboxylic acid, an amine, a thiol, a phosphonic acid, an alkoxysilane, a halosilane, a nitrile and mixtures thereof

4 . An article according to claim 3 , wherein:
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, In and mixtures thereof; and c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprising a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of 11-phosphonoundecyl acrylate, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl acrylate, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate, (3-glycidyloxypropyl) triethoxysilane, 3-(triethoxysilyl)propyl isocyanate, 12-azidododecylphosphonic acid, trimethoxy[2-(7-oxabicyclo[4.1.0]hept-3-yl)ethyl]silane, 3-cyclopentadienylpropyltriethoxysilane, [(5-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-enyl)ethyl]triethoxysilane, 11-phosphonoundecanoic acid, and mixtures thereof.

5 . The article according to claim 1 wherein;
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal alloy selected from the group consisting of Ga/In, Ga/In/Sn, Ga/In/Sn/Sb, In/Sn/Bi, Bi/Pb/Sn, Bi/Pb/Sn/Cd, Bi/Pb/Sn/Cd/In and mixtures thereof;
b) said encapsulates' shell comprises a metal oxide comprising a cation derived from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, Sn, Sb, Cd, Bi, In and mixtures thereof; and
c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprise a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of phosphonic acids, trialkoxysilanes, or mixtures thereof.

6 . The article according to claim 5 wherein;
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal alloy selected from the group consisting of Ga/In, Ga/In/Sn, Ga/In/Sn/Sb, In/Sn/Bi and mixtures thereof;
b) said encapsulates' shell comprises a metal oxide comprising a cation derived from a metal selected from the group consisting of Ga, In, Bi and mixtures thereof; and
c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprise a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of phosphonic acids or trialkoxysilanes possessing an acrylate or methacrylate moiety and mixtures thereof.

7 . The article according to claim 6 wherein;
a) said encapsulates' liquid metal core comprises a liquid metal alloy selected from the group consisting of 85.8 atom % Ga/14.2 atom % In, 78.3 atom % Ga/14.9 atom % In/6.8 atom % Sn and mixtures thereof, and
c) said encapsulates' one or more multi-functional ligands comprise a head group that comprises a material selected from the group consisting of 11-phosphonoundecyl acrylate, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate and mixtures thereof.

8 . The article according to claim 1 , wherein said encapsulate has a shell thickness of from about 0.5 nanometers to about 5 nanometers.

9 . The article according to claim 1 , wherein said encapsulate has a principal dimension of from about 5 nanometers to about 5 millimeters.

10 . The article according to claim 1 , wherein said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network's linkage has the formula:
*-X-R-X-* wherein for said formula:
a) each * represents the chemical attachment point to a core shell liquid metal encapsulate;
b) each X represents a molecular segment selected from the group of chemical structures comprising C—S, C—N, C—P—O, C—Si—O, O—Si—O, C—O; and
c) R represents a molecular segment independently selected from the group of chemical structures comprising C—C, C═C, C—S—C, N—N—N, C—N, O—C—N, C—O—C, Si—O—Si.

11 . The article according to claim 10 , wherein said core shell liquid metal encapsulate network's linkage has the formula:
*-X-R-X-* wherein for said formula:
a) each * represents the chemical attachment point to a core shell liquid metal encapsulate;
b) each X represents a molecular segment selected from the group of chemical structures comprising thiols, amines, phosphonates, silyl ethers, esters and mixtures thereof; and
c) R represents a molecular segment independently selected from the group of chemical structures comprising thioethers,

Assignees

• Us Gov Air Force

Inventors

• Tabor Christopher E
• Thrasher Carl J
• Watson Alexander M
• Morris Nicholas J
• Farrell Zachary J

Classifications

• H01B1/02

  mainly consisting of metals or alloys · CPC title

• H01B1/08 Primary

  oxides · CPC title

• H01P3/00

  Waveguides; Transmission lines of the waveguide type · CPC title

• B01J13/08 Primary

  Simple coacervation, i.e. addition of highly hydrophilic material {(combined with spraying B01J13/043; combined with mechanical division B01J13/04)} · CPC title

• H01B1/12

  organic substances {(organic macromolecular compounds or compositions C08)} · CPC title