Fabrication of a multilayered SGO/macroporous Nafion-based IPMC with enhanced actuation performance

Abstract

Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) composed of Nafion film and platinum deposited on both faces have gained much attention in biomedical engineering as actuators because it can show large bending motion under an electric field. This study focuses on the design of a multilayered IPMC actuator based on sulfonated graphene oxide (SGO) modified macroporous Nafion film. The Nafion film is firstly fabricated via templating technique by using silica spheres as template and SGO as a conductive agent dispersed in Nafion film. Then, Pt nanoparticles are deposited on both faces of the as-prepared Nafion film to fabricate the actuator (denoted as IPMC-SGO-M). In the IPMC-SGO-M, macropores and SGO co-exist in the Nafion film, which can effectively enhance the rapid transport of ions and electrons. In addition, small Pt nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed on the surface of the Nafion film, which can improve the water-uptake capability and charge redistribution between two layers of electrode regions. As a result, the tip displacements of the IPMC-SGO-M are 1.7-fold and 1.9-fold higher than that of the IPMC based on macroporous Nafion film (IPMC-M) under 6.2 and 6.6 V, respectively. The blocking forces of the IPMC-SGO-M are about 2.6-fold and 2.3-fold higher than that of IPMC-M under 6.2 and 6.6 V, respectively.