This study investigates the effects of electrode surface structure on the mechanoelectrical transduction of IPMC sensors.
A physics-based mechanoelectrical transduction model was developed that takes into account the electrode surface
profile (shape) by describing the polymer-electrode interface as a Koch fractal structure. Based on the model, the
electrode surface effects were experimentally investigated in case of IPMCs with Pd-Pt electrodes. IPMCs with different
electrode surface structures were fabricated through electroless plating process by appropriately controlling the synthesis
parameters and conditions. The changes in the electrode surface morphology and the corresponding effects on the IPMC
mechanoelectrical transduction were examined. Our experimental results indicate that increasing the dispersion of Pd
particles near the membrane surface, and thus the polymer-electrode interfacial area, leads to a higher peak
mechanoelectrically induced voltage of IPMC. However, the overall effect of the electrode surface structure is relatively
low compared to the electromechanical transduction, which is in good agreement with theoretical prediction.
It is generally understood that increasing the specific surface area of the electrodes of IPMC leads to improved electromechanical performance of the material. Most physics based models compensate the effect of high surface area of the electrodes by increasing both diffusion constant and dielectric permittivity values, while using flat electrode approximation in calculations. Herein, a model was developed to take into account the shape and area of the electrodes. High surface area of the electrodes in the model was achieved by designing 2D polymer-electrode interface as a Koch fractal structure – different generation depths and both unidirectional and random directional generations were studied. The calculations indicate that increasing the generation depth of fractals, thus surface area of the electrodes results in more overall transported charge during the actuation process. Based on the model, the effect of the specific surface area of the electrodes on the electromechanical performance was experimentally investigated. IPMCs with different Pd-Pt electrode structures were prepared and their electromechanical and electrochemical properties were examined and discussed. The methods to manipulate the surface structure of Pd-Pt electrodes were proposed.
IPMC actuation is described with a system of partial differential equations – the Poisson’s equation, the Nernst-
Planck equation, and the Navier’s equations for the displacement field. In such systems, one physical field can
be very smooth while others are not. This can possibly result in very large problem size in terms of number of
degrees of freedom (nDOF) when implemented with the finite element method (FEM). Furthermore, finding an
optimal mesh is challenging due to the fact that the physical fields are time dependent. In order to overcome
these deficiencies, hp-FEM was used to solve the system of equations. The hp-FEM is a modern version of the
FEM that is capable of exponential convergence (the approximation error drops exponentially as new degrees of
freedom are added during adaptivity). It is shown how the multi-meshing allows reducing the problem size in
terms of nDOF; also, how the solution domain that describes IPMC can be scaled without a significant increase
in the nDOFs and solution time. The model was implemented in Hermes that is a free hp-FEM solver.
Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are an emerging class of electroactive polymers that display both actuating and
sensing capabilities. In this study, a longitudinal tensile force performance of millimeter thick IPMCs was investigated.
Both, 0.5 mm and 1 mm thick IPMCs with Pt electrodes were tested in tensile mode, by monitoring the change of tensile
load in response to applied electric fields. The measurements were performed either under static pre-strain conditions or
by dynamically increasing the tensile strain with constant rate, while switching the voltage on and off periodically. The
measurements under pre-load and constant voltage were performed in order to evaluate the maximum tensile force of the
samples. Our results demonstrate that Pt-IPMCs which show the blocking force in bending direction in range of 50 mN,
are capable of generating tensile forces in longitudinal direction more than 1.5 N at an applied voltage of 3 V DC.
Experiments indicate that the electrodes affect the charge dynamics, and therefore actuation of ionic polymermetal
composite (IPMC) via three different types of currents - electric potential induced ionic current, leakage
current, and electrochemical current if approximately higher than 2 V voltage is applied to a typical 200 μm
thick IPMC. The ionic current via charge accumulation near the electrodes is the direct cause of the osmotic
and electrostatic stresses in the polymer and therefore carries the major role in the actuation of IPMC. However,
the leakage and the electrochemical - electrolysis in case of water based IPMCs - currents do not affect the
actuation dynamics as directly but cause potential gradients on the electrodes. These in turn affect the ionic
current. A physics based finite element (FE) model was developed to incorporate the effect of the electrodes and
three different types of currents in the actuation calculations. The Poisson-Nernst-Planck system of equations is
used in the model to describe the ionic current and the Butler-Volmer relation is used to describe the electrolysis
current for different applied voltages and IPMC thicknesses. To validate the model, calculated tip deflection,
applied net current, and potential drop in case of various IPMC thicknesses and applied voltages are compared
to experimental data.
The system of Poisson and Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations is used to describe the charge transport in ionic
polymer-metal composite (IPMC) materials. This process is a key mechanism for the electromechanical transduction
of the material. As the system coupled with elastostatic equations is nonlinear and for a domain with two
electrodes, the charge concentration differences occur in a very narrow region near the boundaries, the required
computing power for a full scale finite element (FE) model is, especially in 3D, rather significant. Furthermore,
it is challenging to find a mesh that would be optimal in terms of calculation time, required computing resources,
and calculation accuracy. Most of the commercially available FE software for multi-physics problems has rather
strict restrictions in terms of element types, mesh types, and choice of polynomial degrees. In this paper, we
explore the option of using hp-FEM modeling to solve the PNP and elastostatic equation system. First, we
demonstrate how the multi-meshing and the time dependent adaptivity help to control the error of the solution
and also how the problem size is reduced. This is done by studying Poisson-Nernst-Planck system of equations
in a 2D domain with different hp-adaptivity types. Both 2D and 3D versions of the model are implemented in
Hermes which is a space- and space-time adaptive hp-FEM solver. Full mathematical derivation of the weak
formulation of the system of equations is presented. Furthermore, we show how the features of Hermes can be
useful in modeling more complicated full scale actuation of IPMC.
This paper presents a study of IPMCs for twisting motion. To accomplish the twisting electromechanical transduction
of IPMC, patterned electrodes were used. Here we present a three dimensional (3D) finite element (FE)
model based on the fundamental physical principles. Due to very high aspect ratio of the dimensions of IPMC
materials, constructing a full scale 3D model that includes charge transport, continuum mechanics, and electrostatics
equations for the electrodes is challenging. Therefore, a process where some of the data is calculated in
a scaled 2D domain and is later used to calculate the mechanoelectrical transduction in a full scale 3D domain
is presented. The modeling results are compared to experimentally measured data. In the second part of the
paper, the twisting mechanoelectrical transduction study of the IPMCs is introduced. A 3D FE model, again
based on the fundamental physical principles, was developed to estimate the generated charge. In case of the
mechanoelectrical transduction simulations, the full model was calculated in a 3D domain.
The current paper presents the latest advancements in manufacturing, modeling and applications of ionic
polymer-metal composite (IPMC) materials at University of Nevada, Reno. The paper highlights the newest
techniques used in making the novel IPMCs. This includes the dimension control and patterning the electrodes
so that the multiaxial bending of the material can be achieved. The novel concept of strain sensing and also more
energy efficient actuation is discussed. Moreover, we have been working on improving the modeling of IPMC.
The focus has been creating a physical model for design purposes. This has lead to developing a first full scale
3-dimensional model of IPMC material. Additionally, electrode effect has been presented and new techniques
have been explored to take the Finite Element (FE) modeling of IPMC to the next level.
The Finite Element Analyze (FEA) methods have proven to be applicable for modeling the basic transduction
sheets(cantilevers) of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC). Physical models can simulate ion transport and
corresponding strain. More complicated models also add the effect of the electrode, both surface and electrochemical
ones. In this work we propose a FEA model for IPMC materials of different shapes. The new model
is three dimensional. When dealing with 3D transduction, the electrode surface geometrical properties of IPMC
becomes more important as well. For instance, there are several ways how to attach the electrodes to a cylindrical
IPMC to get various deformation modes. The proposed model considers the electrode placement and provides
sufficiently accurate transduction estimate for more complicated IPMC structures.
Studies have shown that electrical parameters such as voltage drop and surface resistance are in correlation with
curvature of IPMC. The electrical current in the surface of an IPMC could be calculated from the movement
of the counter ions inside the polymer backbone of the IPMC. By using FEM we can calculate voltage drop
in the platinum electrodes along the IPMC sheet. To get the relation between the voltage drop and current
density, we use Ramo-Shockley theorem. The calculated voltage could again be applied as an input to the base
model to calculate the curvature. This results in the Finite Element Model of an IPMC, which could be used
for simulating basic actuation of an IPMC and furthermore, dynamic voltage changes on the electrodes. The
current paper proposes a dynamical model of an IPMC with surface resistance taken into account. Also the
voltage drop along the surface and overall currents are studied.
This paper presents an electro-mechanical Finite Element Model of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) material. Mobile counter ions inside the polymer are drifted by an applied electric field, causing mass imbalance inside the material. This is the main cause of the bending motion of this kind of materials. All foregoing physical effects have been considered as time dependent and modeled with FEM. Time dependent mechanics is modeled with continuum mechanics equations. The model also considers the fact that there is a surface of platinum on both sides of the polymer backbone. The described basic model has been under developement for a while and has been improved over the time. Simulation comparisons with experimental data have shown good harmony. Our previous paper described most of the basic model. Additionally, the model was coupled with equations, which described self-oscillatory behavior of the IPMC material. It included describing electrochemical processes with additional four differential equations. The Finite Element Method turned out to be very reasonable for coupling together and solving all equations as a single package. We were able to achieve reasonably precise model to describe this complicated phenomenon. Our most recent goal has been improving the basic model. Studies have shown that some electrical parameters of an IPMC, such as surface resistance and voltage drop are dependent on the curvature of the IPMC. Therefore the new model takes surface resistance into account to some extent. It has added an extra level of complexity to the model, because now all simulations are done in three dimensional domain. However, the result is advanced visual and numerical behavior of an IPMC with different surface characteristics.
This paper presents a electro-mechanical model of an IPMC sheet. The model is developed using Finite Element method. The physical bending of an IPMC sheet due to the drift of counter-ions (e.g Na+) and water in applied electric field are simulated. Our model establishes a cause-effect relationship between the charge imbalance of the counter-ions and the mechanical bending of the IPMC sheet. The model takes into account the mechanical properties of the Nafion polymer as well as the platinum coating. As the simulations are time dependent, a transient model is used and some additional parameters, such as damping coefficients, are included. In addition to electro-mechanical model, electrochemical reactions are introduced. Equations describing periodic adsorption and desorption of CO and OH on a platinum electrode of an IPMC muscle immersed into formaldehyde solution are coupled to mechanical properties of the proposed model. This permits us to simulate self-oscillatory behavious of an IPMC sheet. The simulation results are compared to experimental data.
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