A research team led by Professor Noh Sang-chul, in collaboration with the team of Professor Nicholas L. Abbott at Cornell University, has discovered a new principle for imparting shape-memory properties to liquids.

In the study, with Professor Noh as the first author, a technique was developed in which liquids with two coexisting phases are placed between two electrodes. By applying an electric field, one liquid phase can be made to exist within the other, either as an emulsion (droplets) or in film formation.

Notably, both the film and emulsion states demonstrated high stability.

While emulsions such as salad dressing are typically difficult to stabilize without surfactants, this study confirmed that topological defects arising from the use of a liquid crystal as the medium that induces the emulsion's stability.

Furthermore, the researchers observed a rapid morphological transformation when the emulsion converted into a film, which they attributed to a soliton induced trigger within the liquid crystal.

Shape-memory properties are typically observed in solid materials and have been challenging to achieve in liquids due to their high molecular mobility. 

This research is therefore highly significant as a foundational source technology that demonstrates the feasibility of achieving shape-memory properties in liquids.

The findings were published in the international scientific journal Nature on July 16, 2025.