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SUBSCRIPTIONS & PRICING
GENERAL INFORMATION
chapter 9, Molecular Scale Electroactive Polymers
Table of Contents
- Topic 1 Introduction
- 1. EAP History, Current Status, and Infrastructure
- Topic 2 Natural Muscles
- 2. Natural Muscle as a Biological System
- Topic 3 EAP Materials
- 4. Electric EAP
- Topic 4 Modeling Electroactive Polymers
- 10. Computational Chemistry
- Topic 5 Processing and Fabrication of EAPs
- 14. Processing and Fabrication Techniques
- Topic 6 Testing and Characterization
- 15. Methods of Testing and Characterization
- Topic 7 EAP Actuators, Devices, and Mechanisms
- 16. Application of Dielectric Elastomer EAP Actuators
- Topic 8 Lessons Learned, Applications, and Outlook
- 21. EAP Applications, Potential, and Challenges
Chapter Contents
- 9.1 Introduction
- 9.2 Intrinsic Properties and Macroscale Translation
- 9.3 Stimulus-Induced Conformational Changes within the Single Molecule
- 9.4 Final Comments
- 9.5 References
Excerpt
9.1 Introduction
This chapter reviews the so-called “single-molecule” approach to the design of artificial muscles. More specifically, it will focus on the development of artificial muscles that are capable of function from the bulk (macroscale) to the single-molecule (nanoscale) level. Such materials can only exist if each building block is encoded with all the information necessary to perform an expansion∕contraction (or related) cycle (single-molecule approach). Thus, a distinction between intrinsic and bulk properties must first be addressed. Furthermore, the systems reviewed herein are limited to well-defined organic molecules or macromolecules that have some analogy to biological systems. For the sake of clarity, this section uses the term engine to include muscles and all other related forms of biological devices that can transduce one form of energy to mechanical energy. An excellent review on biological engines has recently appeared in the literature, and describes not only muscles, but also biological springs and ratchets [Mahadevan et al, 2000]. All such engines have synthetic counterparts at the molecular level, and are described herein. It should be noted that carbon nanotubes, another class of well-defined actuators, are discussed elsewhere in this book.
9.1.1 Overview: Intrinsic vs. Bulk Properties
The distinction between an intrinsic engine and a bulk engine can be realized by the following conceptual illustration.
©2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers
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