Molecular mechanism of ionic electroactive polymer actuators

Abstract

The movement of ionic electroactive polymer actuators utilizes their anisotropic volumechange, which is induced by the applied voltage. The mechanism of the volume change is,however, not well understood, especially at the molecular level. In this paper, we firstreview the present understanding of the mechanism of the volume change at the molecularlevel, focusing on the actuators made with carbon materials. Then we discuss the pressuregenerated in the actuators in response to the applied voltage based on the results of theMonte Carlo simulation. We show that the mechanism of the actuators can be analyzed atthe molecular level in terms of the balance between the electrostatic and volumeexclusion interactions that act among the electrode materials and the electrolyte ions.