Fig. 3: Preparation of magnetic liquid metal composite and mechanism of anchoring effect. | Nature Communications

Fig. 3: Preparation of magnetic liquid metal composite and mechanism of anchoring effect.

From: Reactive wetting enabled anchoring of non-wettable iron oxide in liquid metal for miniature soft robot

Fig. 3

A Illustrations and optical images of the composition between EGaIn liquid metal and FPA (100 mM) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles using mechanical, electrochemical, and acid-facilitated methods, respectively, indicating the superior wettability of FPA (100 mM) in LM. B Concentrations of Fe element measured from the supernatant of acid solution containing EGaIn-5% FPA (100 mM) and EGaIn-1.25% Fe3O4, respectively. All values represent the mean ± standard deviation (SD) for n = 3 independent experiments. C Metallography characterization of the frozen EGaIn-5% FPA (100 mM) where the yellow dotted region is further analyzed by element mapping. D XRD patterns of EGaIn-10% FPA (100 mM), EGaIn-10% FPA (20 mM), and pure EGaIn. E Micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) of EGaIn-5% FPA (100 mM), where the 3D image (left) shows the distribution of high-density intermetallic compound phase (green regions) in liquid metal (cylindrical dotted region), the slice image (middle) exhibits the horizontal section of EGaIn-5% FPA (100 mM) composite, and the illustration in the right corner indicates the anchoring mechanism between Fe3O4 and EGaIn via AgxIny intermetallic compounds (IMCs). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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