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Bai et al. Soft Sci 2023;3:40 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2023.38

Review Article Open Access

Liquid metals nanotransformer for healthcare

biosensors

Yunlong Bai 1,2,# , Jie Zhang 1,3,# , Chennan Lu 1,3,# , Wei Rao 1,3,*
1
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
2
School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China.
3
School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101408, China.
#
Authors contributed equally.
* Correspondence to: Prof. Wei Rao, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
No.29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, China. E-mail: weirao@mail.ipc.ac.cn
How to cite this article: Bai Y, Zhang J, Lu C, Rao W. Liquid metals nanotransformer for healthcare biosensors. Soft Sci 2023;3:40.
https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2023.38

Received: 25 Aug 2023 First Decision: 21 Sep 2023 Revised: 5 Oct 2023 Accepted: 23 Oct 2023 Published: 3 Nov 2023
Academic Editor: Zhifeng Ren Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
Featuring low cost, low melting points, excellent biocompatibility, outstanding electrical conductivity, and
mechanical properties, gallium-based liquid metals (LMs) have become a promising class of materials to fabricate
flexible healthcare sensors. However, the extremely high surface tension hinders their manipulation and
cooperation with substrates. To address this problem, the inspiration of nanomaterials has been adopted to mold
LMs into LM nanoparticles (LMNPs) with expanded advantages. The transformability of LMNPs endows them with
functionalities for sensors in multiple dimensions, such as intelligent response to specific molecules or strains,
various morphologies, integration into high-resolution circuits, and conductive elastomers. This review aims to
summarize the superior properties of LMs, transformability of LMNPs, and correlated advantages for sensor
performance. Multidimensional functional sensing forms consisting of LMNPs and corresponding applications as
healthcare sensors will be presented. In the end, the existing challenges and prospects in the processing and
application of LMNPs will also be discussed.

Keywords: Liquid metal, nanoparticles, transformability, healthcare biosensors, flexible electronics

INTRODUCTION
Sensors usually convert the stimuli received into optical, electrical, magnetic, and other signals, eventually

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