Low-melting liquid metals are emerging as a new group of highly functional solvents due to their capability to dissolve and alloy various metals in their elemental state to form solutions as well as colloidal systems. Furthermore, these liquid metals can facilitate and catalyze multiple unique chemical reactions. Despite the intriguing science behind liquid metals and alloys, very little is known about their fundamental structures in the nanometric regime. To bridge this gap, this work employs small angle neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations, revealing that the most commonly used liquid metal solvents, EGaIn and Galinstan, are surprisingly structured with the formation of clusters ranging from 157 to 15.7 Å. Conversely, noneutectic liquid metal alloys of GaSn or GaIn at low solute concentrations of 1, 2, and 5 wt%, as well as pure Ga, do not exhibit these structures. Importantly, the eutectic alloys retain their structure even at elevated temperatures of 60 and 90 °C, highlighting that they are not just simple homogeneous fluids consisting of individual atoms. Understanding the complex soft structure of liquid alloys will assist in comprehending complex phenomena occurring within these fluids and contribute to deriving reaction mechanisms in the realm of synthesis and liquid metal-based catalysis.

中文翻译：

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液态金属和合金的结构演变


低熔点液态金属正在成为一类新的高功能溶剂，因为它们能够溶解元素状态的各种金属并形成合金，形成溶液和胶体系统。此外，这些液态金属可以促进和催化多种独特的化学反应。尽管液态金属和合金背后的科学很有趣，但人们对它们在纳米范围内的基本结构知之甚少。为了弥补这一差距，这项工作采用了小角中子散射和分子动力学模拟，揭示了最常用的液态金属溶剂 EGaIn 和 Galinstan 的结构令人惊讶，形成了 157 至 15.7 Å 范围的簇。相反，低溶质浓度为 1、2 和 5 wt% 的 GaSn 或 GaIn 的非共晶液态金属合金以及纯 Ga 则不会表现出这些结构。重要的是，即使在 60 和 90°C 的高温下，共晶合金也能保持其结构，这突出表明它们不仅仅是由单个原子组成的简单均质流体。了解液态合金的复杂软结构将有助于理解这些流体中发生的复杂现象，并有助于推导合成和液态金属催化领域的反应机制。