Liquid metal synthesis solvents for metallic crystals

In nature, snowflake ice crystals arrange themselves into diverse symmetrical six-sided structures. We show an analogy of this when zinc (Zn) dissolves and crystallizes in liquid gallium (Ga). The low-melting-temperature Ga is used as a “metallic solvent” to synthesize a range of flake-like Zn crystals. We extract these metallic crystals from the liquid metal solvent by reducing its surface tension using a combination of electrocapillary modulation and vacuum filtration. The liquid metal–grown crystals feature high morphological diversity and persistent symmetry. The concept is expanded to other single and binary metal solutes and Ga-based solvents, with the growth mechanisms elucidated through ab initio simulation of interfacial stability. This strategy offers general routes for creating highly crystalline, shape-controlled metallic or multimetallic fine structures from liquid metal solvents. Description Many metal morphologies Metals will easily dissolve in liquid gallium at elevated temperatures and then precipitate out of solution when cooled down. However, the high surface tension of the liquid metal makes it very difficult to extract these crystals. Idrus-Saidi et al. developed an extraction method achieved by applying a voltage to the liquid metal solution while vacuum filtrating. The resulting crystals can have intricate morphologies, with some looking similar to snowflakes. This strategy should produce a variety of morphologies for metal particles across a wide range of different elements and alloys. —BG Metal crystals precipitated out of a gallium solution have a diverse range of interesting morphologies.