Thermomagnetic liquid metal switches with fast bidirectional response

Haodong Chen, Yuyu Xie, Kaiming Qiao, Longlong Xie, Ziyuan Yu, Chenyu Xu, Jingyi Liu, Mingze Liu, Yongyu Lu, Jing Liu, Fengxia Hu, Baogen Shen, Ke Chu, Jia Yan Law, Victorino Franco and Hu Zhang ()
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Haodong Chen: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Yuyu Xie: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Kaiming Qiao: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Longlong Xie: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Ziyuan Yu: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Chenyu Xu: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Jingyi Liu: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Mingze Liu: University of Science and Technology Beijing
Yongyu Lu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jing Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fengxia Hu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Baogen Shen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Ke Chu: Lanzhou Jiaotong University
Jia Yan Law: Universidad de Sevilla
Victorino Franco: Universidad de Sevilla
Hu Zhang: University of Science and Technology Beijing

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Traditional thermal switches usually suffer from long-time and unidirectional response. Herein, we combined liquid metals with magnetic Ni2Mn1.4In0.6 particles and developed a thermomagnetic liquid metal. These materials not only show excellent fluidity and electrical conductivity, but also exhibit fast response at a tuneable temperature that traditional magnetic liquid metals do not have. The ultimate application is designed as micro-channel thermal switch. Particularly, our thermal switch features bidirectional response through the droplet displacement, thus simultaneously cutting off the working circuit while turning on the fire extinguishing. Its response time of 1.2 s is 3.3 − 5.6 times faster than typical commercial thermal switches under the same hot source temperature of 75 °C, and it can be further reduced to 660 ms under the optimal environment. Moreover, this fast-response thermal switch offers the fastest recovery time, low cost, and long-cycle stability, showing a huge potential as a generation of thermal switches for diverse applications.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58015-x

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