Research On The Performance Of Ionic Polymer Metal Composites Modified With Polyaniline/Sulfonated Carbon Nanotube

Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC), a new kind of smart materials, is made by depositingprecious metal electrode on both sides of ionic polymer film chemically, such as nafion film. IPMC,with good flexibility, can produce a larger dynamic deformation when applied a dynamic electric field.Thus IPMC has broad potential applications in artificial muscle, medical engineering, actuators andsensors. Today, the study results show that IPMC has three major shortcomings: small displacement,low output force and short air-operation time, limiting the actual applications of IPMCs. In this paper,organic synthesis has been used to improve the performance of IPMC. The details are as follows:(1) We synthesized sulfonated multiwalled carbon nanotube (SMWCNT) and PANI/CNTscomposite. Then4kinds of new type IPMC actuators were fabricated by doping PANI/CNTs intoNafion matrix with diverse mass ratios. After that the modification function and mechanism ofPANI/CNTs on IPMC were analyzed by testing the physical properties related to theelectro-mechanical properties of the IPMC. The results showed that the IPMC with0.1%wt PANI/CNTs exhibited the best electro-mechanical performance：the maximum displacement under2Vvoltage is11.6mm, and the maximum output force under3V voltage is34.5mN, increasing up to2.4times and2.0times of the traditional IPMC, respectively.(2) The sulfonic acid sodium styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer (SSMA) was synthesized tofabricate3new types IPMC actuatorss with diverse mass ratios. Then Experiments were carried out totest the water uptake ratio, ion exchange equivalent, output force and displacement of IPMC samples.The results showed that the IPMC with1%wt SSMA exhibited the maximum displacement of11.06mm under3v voltage, increasing up to1.4times of the traditional IPMC, while IPMC with5%wt SSMA the maximum output force under3v voltage of25.99mN, increasing up to1.2times ofthe traditional IPMC.(3) Oxidative trimethoxysilylpropanethiol as precursor the sulfonated silica was doped intoNafion matrix with diverse mass ratios, preparing new kinds of organic-inorganic hybrid membraneswith high water uptake ratio, ion exchange capacity and uniform internal structure, which laid afoundation for the fabrication of IPMC with excellent performance.