Journal
NANOSCALE
Volume 12, Issue 25, Pages 13731-13741Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/d0nr00988a
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Funding
- National Key R&D Program of China [2017YFA0205901]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21535001, 81730051, 21761142006, 21875004]
- Chinese Academy of Sciences [QYZDJ-SSW-SLH039, 121D11KYSB20170026, XDA16020902]
- Natural Science Foundation of Beijing [2192018]
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Stabilizing metastable colloids such as gallium-based liquid metal nanoparticles (LM NPs) and using them in complex machining processes is a great challenge due to their simple and sensitive surface chemistry against ligand modification and solution processing. Water, a green solvent, is unfortunately not favored by LM NPs in the entire workflow from synthesis to functionalization and application. This dilemma is relieved herein by presenting a sonochemical polymer deposition technique that can produce a water-dispersible LM@polymer hybrid nanomaterial in one step. Water-soluble polymers such as poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) can be directly deposited onto eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) as a coating shell (up to 20 nm) and prevent their rapid and continuous oxidation in aqueous solutions. EGaIn@PVP NPs are stable after preservation for 30 days in water and 60 days in ethanol, and the polymer coating shows solvent-responsive swelling/shrinking behaviors. The LM@polymer NPs can be stably composited with other materials through complex processing and perform desired functions after composition. For demonstration, EGaIn@PVP NPs are employed as active electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries by compositing with water-soluble binders, and exhibit excellent cycling performances with no obvious decay (capacity retention >95%) in more than 700 cycles at 4 A g(-1). This strategy enriches the toolbox for surface engineering of LMs especially under harsh conditions, which can benefit the applications of LM NPs in various scenarios.
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