Phase Change of Gallium Enables Highly Reversible and Switchable Adhesion

Zhou Ye; Guo Zhan Lum; Sukho Song; Steven Rich; Metin Sitti

doi:10.1002/adma.201505754

Phase Change of Gallium Enables Highly Reversible and Switchable Adhesion

Adv Mater. 2016 Jul;28(25):5088-92. doi: 10.1002/adma.201505754. Epub 2016 May 4.

Authors

Zhou Ye¹, Guo Zhan Lum^{1

2

3}, Sukho Song^{1

2}, Steven Rich^{1

2}, Metin Sitti^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,, PA 15213, USA.
³ School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.

PMID: 27146217
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201505754

Abstract

Gallium exhibits highly reversible and switchable adhesion when it undergoes a solid-liquid phase transition. The robustness of gallium is notable as it exhibits strong performance on a wide range of smooth and rough surfaces, under both dry and wet conditions. Gallium may therefore find numerous applications in transfer printing, robotics, electronic packaging, and biomedicine.

Keywords: gallium; manipulation; phase changes; reversible adhesion; switchability.