Ionic polymer metal composites with nanoporous carbon electrodes

Viljar Palmre; Daniel Brandell; Uno Mäeorg; Janno Torop; Olga Volobujeva; Andres Punning; Urmas Johanson; Alvo Aabloo

doi:10.1117/12.847518

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9 April 2010 Ionic polymer metal composites with nanoporous carbon electrodes

Viljar Palmre, Daniel Brandell, Uno Mäeorg, Janno Torop, Olga Volobujeva, Andres Punning, Urmas Johanson, Alvo Aabloo

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Proceedings Volume 7642, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010; 76421D (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847518
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs) are soft electroactive polymer materials that bend in response to the voltage stimulus (1 - 4 V). They can be used as actuators or sensors. In this paper, we introduce two new highly-porous carbon materials for assembling high specific area electrodes for IPMC actuators and compare their electromechanical performance with recently reported IPMCs based on RuO₂ electrodes. We synthesize ionic liquid (Emi-Tf) actuators with either Carbide-Derived Carbon (CDC) (derived from TiC) or coconut shell based activated carbon electrodes. The carbon electrodes are applied onto ionic liquid-swollen Nafion membranes using the direct assembly process. Our results show that actuators assembled with CDC electrodes have the greatest peak-to-peak strain output, reaching up to 20.4 mε (equivalent to >2%) at a 2 V actuation signal, exceeding that of the RuO₂ electrodes by more than 100%. The electrodes synthesized from TiC-derived carbon also revealed significantly higher maximum strain rate. The differences between the materials are discussed in terms of molecular interactions and mechanisms upon actuation in the different electrodes.

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Viljar Palmre, Daniel Brandell, Uno Mäeorg, Janno Torop, Olga Volobujeva, Andres Punning, Urmas Johanson, and Alvo Aabloo "Ionic polymer metal composites with nanoporous carbon electrodes", Proc. SPIE 7642, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010, 76421D (9 April 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.847518

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