Abstract
Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) with various thicknesses of 1, 2, 4, and 6 nafion films (denoted as 1-film, 2-film, 4-film and 6-film, respectively) are fabricated, and their characterization and actuation performances are then investigated. The effects of the thickness of the IPMCs on their morphology, surface resistance, and water uptake capability are studied. Their actuation performances are further evaluated by examining the tip force and displacement in terms of the length and the thickness of the IPMCs, under a direct current (DC) power of 3.0 or 4.5 V. In comparison with the 1-film, the 2-film shows a six-fold increase in the maximum tip force, but the response time increases from 2 to 9 s. The 4-film doubles the maximum tip force of the 2-film at 21 s. On the other hand, a reduction of the length of the IPMC from 30 to 15 mm also results in a double-maximum tip force, but this never increases the response time. Repeated actuations of the IPMCs with various thicknesses are performed by three actuation methods of no treatment, treatment in deionized water, and treatment in a NaCl solution. The relationships between the repeated actuation methods and actuations of the IPMCs with various thicknesses are also investigated.
Highlights
Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are one of the most promising smart materials, due to their larger displacements under lower voltages, and they can be potentially applied as biomimetic sensors, robotic actuators, or artificial muscles [1,2]
Many efforts have been made to improve the actuation forces of the IPMCs by adding nano-metal powders [3], graphene [4,5], carbon tubes [6,7], and carbon nanofibers [8] to enhance the performance of the ion exchange polymers, synthesizing different materials to produce new types of ion exchange membranes [9,10,11,12,13,14,15], using ionic liquids to improve the durability of the IPMCs [16,17], conducting electroplating processes to deposit different materials for use as surface electrodes with exceptional performance [18], carrying out plasma pretreatment on the surface of nafion to improve the adhesion between the nafion film and the Pt electrode layer [19,20], coating a thin film of parylene to suppress the water evaporation from the IPMC [21], and alternating with electroless plating [22]
The morphologies of the IPMCs after electroless plating were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Summary
Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are one of the most promising smart materials, due to their larger displacements under lower voltages, and they can be potentially applied as biomimetic sensors, robotic actuators, or artificial muscles [1,2]. Many efforts have been made to improve the actuation forces of the IPMCs by adding nano-metal powders [3], graphene [4,5], carbon tubes [6,7], and carbon nanofibers [8] to enhance the performance of the ion exchange polymers, synthesizing different materials to produce new types of ion exchange membranes [9,10,11,12,13,14,15], using ionic liquids to improve the durability of the IPMCs [16,17], conducting electroplating processes to deposit different materials for use as surface electrodes with exceptional performance [18], carrying out plasma pretreatment on the surface of nafion to improve the adhesion between the nafion film and the Pt electrode layer [19,20], coating a thin film of parylene to suppress the water evaporation from the IPMC [21], and alternating with electroless plating [22]. All of these methods require careful fabrication, or they involve complicated chemical treatments
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