Khan Ajahar, Alamry Khalid A, Jain Ravi Kant
Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, King Abdulaziz University Jeddah 21589 Saudi Arabia.
Microrobotics Laboratory/Information Technology Group, CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) Durgapur 713209 India
RSC Adv. 2019 Dec 2;9(68):39721-39734. doi: 10.1039/c9ra06900c.
Currently, a straightforward fabrication technique for the development of soft actuators to explore their potential in robotic applications using environmentally compatible raw materials represents an important challenge. A conventional conducting polymer, such as polypyrrole (PPy), shows promising conductivity for such applications. This study presents the synthesis of PPy/polyvinyl alcohol (PPy/PVA)-based ion exchange polymer films containing PEDOT:PSS/SWNT/IL electrodes that undergo conformational changes in response to the applied voltage. Four types of ionic polymer actuator films with different sizes of PPy nanoparticles were fabricated to investigate the size-dependent electromechanical actuation performance. The aim of this study is to design and develop a stable, flexible, and reliable film actuator for robotic applications. Scanning electron microscopy and transmittance electron microscopy were performed to observe the surface morphology and detailed structure of the fabricated actuator films. The current density and ionic conductivity are demonstrated by the cyclic voltammogram and linear sweep voltammogram, respectively. The enhanced values of the water uptake, ion exchange capacity and ionic conductivity of the PPy/PVA polymer composite films enhanced the electrical properties and the tip deflection performance as compared to those of the other reported expensive perfluorinated polymer-based membrane actuators. A two finger-based micro gripping device was also developed, in which both the fingers were made up of the O-PPy/PVA/EL-based ion exchange polymer films. This mechanically stable and flexible film actuator fabricated a synergistic combination of PPy/PVA composition containing PEDOT:PSS/SWNT/IL electrode surfaces possesses a substantial potential as an actuator material for micro robotic applications.
目前，开发一种直接的制造技术来制造软致动器，以探索其在机器人应用中使用环境兼容原材料的潜力，这是一项重大挑战。传统的导电聚合物，如聚吡咯（PPy），在这类应用中显示出有前景的导电性。本研究介绍了含PEDOT:PSS/SWNT/IL电极的基于PPy/聚乙烯醇（PPy/PVA）的离子交换聚合物薄膜的合成，该薄膜会响应施加的电压而发生构象变化。制备了四种具有不同尺寸PPy纳米颗粒的离子聚合物致动器薄膜，以研究尺寸依赖性机电驱动性能。本研究的目的是设计和开发一种用于机器人应用的稳定、灵活且可靠的薄膜致动器。进行了扫描电子显微镜和透射电子显微镜观察，以观察所制备致动器薄膜的表面形态和详细结构。电流密度和离子电导率分别通过循环伏安图和线性扫描伏安图来证明。与其他报道的昂贵的基于全氟聚合物的膜致动器相比，PPy/PVA聚合物复合薄膜的吸水率、离子交换容量和离子电导率的增强值提高了其电学性能和尖端偏转性能。还开发了一种双指微型抓取装置，其中两个手指均由基于O-PPy/PVA/EL的离子交换聚合物薄膜制成。这种机械稳定且灵活的薄膜致动器由含有PEDOT:PSS/SWNT/IL电极表面的PPy/PVA组合物协同组合而成，作为微型机器人应用的致动器材料具有巨大潜力。
