Study of Electrochemical Properties of Liquid Gallium
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University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 2017+ University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2017 Study of electrochemical properties of liquid gallium Yuchen Chen University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1 University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. 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For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials Study of electrochemical properties of liquid gallium Yuchen Chen "This thesis is presented as part of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy of the University of Wollongong" March 2017 DECLARATION I, Yuchen Chen, declare that this thesis, submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Master of philosophy, in the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials (ISEM), Faculty of Engineering, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. This document has not been submitted for a qualification at any other academic institution. Yuchen Chen March, 2017 i ABSTRACT Room temperature liquid metals have been widely studied because of their unique properties including large liquid range and excellent electrical conductivity. Recently, liquid metal gallium and its alloys have attracted huge interest, owing to the discovery of new phenomena based on them. Inspired by these new phenomena, my master thesis focused on the electrochemical properties of liquid gallium and three related topics are presented as follows. Spreading effects of liquid metal gallium have been demonstrated above the melting point of gallium. It was found that spreading of liquid metal can occur in alkaline and acid solution under an applied voltage and liquid metal can be transformed into its spherical shape when the external power supply is cut off. However, the deformations do not show up in pH neutral solution. The volumes of the liquid metal droplet, the externally applied voltage and the concentrations of the electrolyte have great influences in the spreading speed of liquid metal and the maximum top-view spreading area. Spreading effects of liquid metal gallium in the supercooling state have been studied. The experiments were carried out in 0.5 mol/L NaOH and HCl solutions. The spreading and crystallization of liquid metal occurred simultaneously when an external voltage is applied. The crystallization rate is lower than the spreading rate at ii 22 °C. Our findings open new avenues for controlled liquid-solid shape reconfigurations and are of significant importance for potential applications of soft robotics and electronics. A phenomenological study of the gallium beating heart system in both one wire electrode and one graphite ring electrode electrochemical cell configuration stimulated with a DC voltage is presented. The gallium drop is electrically connected to the graphite ring and acts as the working electrode. When a DC voltage is applied, the liquid metal droplet was jumping on the horizontal direction in the middle of graphite ring. The range of beating frequency from 2.3 to 6.1 Hz can be acquired in our experiments. As the voltage increases, the amplitudes of the oscillation of the liquid gallium droplets show dissimilar behaviors with different volumes of liquid gallium droplet. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It’s a great pleasure to take this opportunity to thank those who had helped and supported me along the way. Firstly and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Xiaolin Wang, for his invaluable guidance, persistent support and encouragement, consistent trust throughout my master study in the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials at the University of Wollongong. The research in this thesis was financially supported by Prof. Xiaolin Wang’s ARC Discovery Project (DP130102956) and an ARC Future Fellowship project (FT130100778). I thank Dr. Tania Silver for her kind help in proofreading and correcting the English in the manuscripts of this thesis. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mr. Zhenwei Yu, Mr. Frank Yun, Dr. Chengbo Zhu, Mr. Feixiang Xiang, Sheik Nazrul Islam, Miss. Lanling Zhao, Dr. Babar Shabbir for their providing measurements and for useful discussion and valuable suggestions. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .......................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................. xvii 1 Background and Literature review ............................................................................ 1 1.1 Gallium and its properties ............................................................................ 1 1.2 Gallium and its oxide skin ........................................................................... 5 1.3 Applications ............................................................................................... 13 1.4 New phenomena ......................................................................................... 19 1.5 Motivations ................................................................................................ 27 1.6 References .................................................................................................. 28 2 Controlled reversible deformation of liquid gallium .............................................. 35 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 35 2.2 Experiment ................................................................................................. 37 2.2.1 Chemical properties ............................................................................... 37 2.2.2 Spreading of gallium droplet .................................................................. 38 2.2.3 Area Measurements ................................................................................ 38 2.3 Results ........................................................................................................ 39 2.3.1 Acid solution .......................................................................................... 42 2.3.1.1 Effect of the volume of liquid gallium on the deformation performance.................................................................................................... 42 2.3.1.2 Effect of the concentration of acid solution on the liquid gallium deformation. ................................................................................................... 45 2.3.2 Alkali solution ........................................................................................ 47 2.3.2.1 Effect of the volume of the liquid gallium droplet on the deformation performance. .............................................................................. 47 2.3.2.2 Effects of the applied voltage on the liquid gallium deformation. 50 v 2.3.2.3 Special case .................................................................................... 52 2.3.3 Salt solution ............................................................................................ 54 2.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 55 2.5 References .................................................................................................. 56 3 Supercooled Gallium ..............................................................................................