Performance Enhancement of Aquivion-based Ionic Polymer Metal Composites for Cylindrical Actuators

As a kind of ionic artificial muscle material, Ionic Polymer–Metal Composites (IPMCs) have the advantages of a low drive current, light weight, and significant flexibility. IPMCs are widely used in the fields of biomedicine, soft robots, etc. However, the displacement and blocking force of the traditional sheet-type Nafion-IPMC need to be improved, and it has the limitation of unidirectional actuation. In this paper, a new type of short side chain Aquivion material is used as the polymer in the IPMC. The cylindrical IPMC is prepared by extrusion technology to improve its actuation performance and realize multi-degree-of-freedom motion. In comparison to the traditional Nafion-IPMC, the ion exchange capacity, specific capacitance, and conductivity of Aquivion-IPMC are improved by 28%, 27%, and 32%, respectively, and the displacement and blocking force are improved by 57% and 25%, respectively. The cylindrical actuators can be deflected in eight directions. This indicates that Aquivion, as a polymer membrane for IPMC, holds significant application potential. By designing a cylindrical IPMC electrode distribution, the multi-degree-of-freedom deflection of IPMC can be realized.