PREPARATION AND INVESTIGATION OF PEDOT FILMS AS ELECTRODES OF IONIC ELECTROACTIVE ACTUATORS

Ionic polymer-polymer composites (IP2C) are synthetic composite nanomaterials, which consist of a porous ion-exchange membrane saturated with an electrolytic solution and coated on both sides with electrodes of a conductive polymer. The technique of manufacturing polymer electrodes from poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) by in situ polymerization on the surface of Nafion 117 membrane is presented. Experimental samples of ionic electroactive actuators with PEDOT electrodes were developed and manufactured. The displacement amplitudes, frequency and power characteristics of the resulting actuators were measured. The effect of the solvent used inside the membrane was investigated, as well as the polymerization time of EDOT on the structure of the samples and the output characteristics of the actuators. It has been shown that the values of the displacement amplitude, the mechanical resonance position and the force created are influenced by the EDOT polymerization time. This fact can be explained that the increase in the polymerization time leads to a decrease in the resistance of the electrodes and an increase in the film density and the hardness of the sample. It has been shown that the maximum displacement amplitudes are achieved by using water as solvent in the actuators.

Authors: I. K. Khmelnitsky, V. M. Ayvazyan, N. I. Alekseev, A. P. Broyko, V. E. Kalyonov, D. O. Testov

Direction: Physics

Keywords: Electroactive polymers, conductive polymers, actuators, IP2C, PEDOT

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