Surfing liquid metal droplet on the same metal bath via electrolyte interface

We report a phenomenon that when exerting an electric field gradient across a liquid metal/electrolyte interface, a droplet of the same liquid metal can persistently surf on the interface without coalescence. A thin layer of the intermediate solution, which separates the droplet from direct metallic contacting and provides levitating force, is responsible for such surfing effect. The electric resistance of this solution film is measured, and the film thickness is further theoretically calculated. The fact that the levitating state can be switched on and off via a controlled manner paves the way for reliably manipulating liquid metal droplets or devices. Published by AIP Publishing.