MSE Virtual Seminar Series: Chris Tabor, USAFRL
Description
Responsive Liquid Metal Electronics
Dr. Christopher Tabor
Materials Research Scientist, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Dr. Christopher Tabor is a Materials Research Scientist within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), located at Dayton, Ohio. He has been with AFRL for over 10 years, first as a National Research Council Fellow and then as a staff scientist, following his graduation with a Ph.D. in chemistry from Georgia Tech in 2009. He leads a multidiscipline team exploring room temperature liquid electronics for applications ranging from stretchable electrodes, physically reconfigurable RF functionality, and colloidal self-healing electronics. Dr. Tabor’s work has been highlighted in the defense technology media and he has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles in the area of optical and electronic properties of metals with 2 patents and 7 additional pending patents.
Abstract: In order to address next-generation requirements for electronic application such as smart wearables, resilient electronics, and reprogrammable hardware, new materials and paradigms for manipulating those materials need to be realized. This talk will focus on one class of new materials that our group explores which has been gaining significant momentum in both the academic and industrial research fields, namely low temperature gallium based liquid metal alloys. These materials provide the potential for superior conductivity with the added benefit of the mechanical properties of a liquid. The additional formation of surface oxides on the liquid provides a tunable mechanical film that can lend unprecedented mechanical properties to the liquid. Control of this surface chemically has been a key focus of our research, enabling us to create mechanically tunable microparticles, ultra-stretchable electronics, programmable RF hardware, and self-healing circuits which are being applied towards next generation applications such as wearable physiological monitors and soft robotics.
For Webinar information please contact Kyle Page (kmp265@cornell.edu)