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Background of IPMCs

• IPMCs are smart materials that exhibit electromechanical (actuator) properties and mechanoelectrical (sensor) applications

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Background of IPMCs

• In 1992 Oguro et al. published paper describing bending of an ion-conducting polymer film-electrode composite by an electric stimulus at low voltage.

• In the recent years, research of the IPMC materials has been expanded more in terms of getting higher efficiency, better adaptability to the environment, and applicability.

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Background of IPMCs

• IPMC materials consist of a thin ionomeric membrane with thickness of approximately 200 μm.

• Typical membrane materials are Nafion, Teflon, Flemion

• Anions are fixed to the polymer backbone and membrane also consists of freely movable cations (Na+, Ka+, Li+ and Cs+ in hydrated form)

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Background of IPMCsThe experimental set-up for the energy harvesting using IPMC

D Dogruer, R Tiwari, K Kim, Ionic polymer metal composites as energy harvesters, Proc. SPIE - Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. (USA). 6524 (2007) 65241C.

Nafion® 117 membrane (length = 12 cm and width = 6.2 cm) the electric power generation is 3 nW at a vibrating frequency of 7.09 rad s−1

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IPMC as sensorMechanical stimulus on an IPMC causes redistribution of charges and produces a detectable electrical signal.

Chen, Z. et al. A dynamic model for ionic polymer–metal composite sensors

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A Tactile Sensor for Biomedical Applications Based on IPMCs

Bonomo, C. et al. Sensors Journal, IEEE Volume 8, Issue 8, Aug. 2008 p.1486-1493

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REVIEW OF THE CURRENT MODELING FOR IPMC SENSORS AND ACTUATORS

• Black box model dictates that there is no prior knowledge of the system

• Gray box model indicates some system knowledge

• White box model is based on a purely physical derivation

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White-box model of Nafion-Pt composite actuators

Following physical phenomena is proposed:

1) ionic motion by electric field2) water motion by ion-drag 3) swelling and contraction of the

membrane 4) momentum effect 5) electrostatic force6) conformation change

Computer simulation showed

the following results. 1) simulated motions agreed

with experimental results improving the accuracy in comparison with the conventional models, especially on the time of the maximum displacement

2) nonlinear relation between input voltage and the maximum displacement was explained.

S Tadokoro, S Yamagami, T Takamori, K Oguro, Modeling of Nafion-Pt composite actuators (ICPF) by ionic motion, Proc. SPIE - Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. (USA). 3987 (2000) 92-102.

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IPMC working principle

A. Punning

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Biomimetic fish-like underwater robot

Listak, Madis; Pugal, Deivid; Kruusmaa, Maarja (2007). Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations of a Biomimetic Underwater Robot. 13th International Conference on Advanced Robotics , Korea, Jeju, 21-24 August, 2007. IEEE, 2007, 314 - 319.

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Self-Walking Gel

Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 3480–3484

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Self-Walking Gel

The autonomous motion is produced by dissipating the chemical energy of an oscillating reaction occurring inside the gel.

Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 3480–3484