Study On Electro-Activity Behavior Of IPMC Enhanced By Bacterial Cellulose Whisker

As a new kind of smart material with quick response,low driving-voltage,high energy conversion efficiency,high drive energy density,and high flexibility,ionic polymer metal composite(IPMC)has potential applications in areas such as soft robot,intelligent materials,biomedical equipment,biomimetic robot,and actuating materials,etc.However,the low output power and high cost have greatly restricted its further development and research.In order to increase the output force of IPMC and reduce the cost,this paper uses a cheap reinforcing material bacterial cellulose nano whisker(BCW)to modify IPMC.The main work and results are summarized as follows.The BCW was obtained with sulfuric acid hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose.In order to obtain the optimal BCW yield,single factor and response surface optimization experiment of the hydrolysis of bacterial cellulose were carried out.The results showed that the highest yield of BCW could obtain when the reaction was carried out with 58% mass fraction of sulfuric acid and 1:20 of solid-liquid ratio at 47℃ for 26 h.The BCW was characterized by XRD,FT-IR and TEM.The results showed that the sulfuric acid only hydrolyzed the amorphous region of BC,so that the crystalline region was separated.Zeta potential results showed that BCW has good stability,could be stably dispersed in water,and was not prone to precipitation and agglomeration.The prepared BCW was added to the Nafion solution.When the addition amount was 0.1 wt%,the prepared BCW/Nafion composite membrane had a smooth and uniform surface and no agglomeration.The BCW/Nafion composite membranes were characterized by FT-IR and SEM and compared with Nafion cast membranes.The results confirmed that BCW did successfully integrate into the BCW/Nafion composite membrane.The tensile test results show that the Young’s modulus of the BCW/Nafion composite membrane with BCW was twice as large as that of the pure Nafion cast membrane,which greatly increases the mechanical properties of the cast membrane.The BCW/Nafion composite membrane was prepared into Ag-IPMC and Pt-IPMC,and tested by SEM,water holding capacity,surface resistance and electro-actuation performance,and compared with Pt-IPMC prepared by Nafion.The results showed that the surface silver particles of Ag-IPMC were relatively uniform,densely packed and well bonded,making the surface resistance of Ag-IPMC much smaller than that of Pt-IPMC.Since BCW had good hydrophilicity,the water holding capacity of the composite membrane was greatly increased,so that the prepared IPMC had a significant increase in water holding capacity.The electrical actuation performance of Ag-BCW/Nafion-IPMC was not much different from that of PtBCW/Nafion-IPMC,but it was lacking in practical application due to the problem of oxidation of the surface metal layer.The addition of BCW has increased the electrical actuation performance of IPMC,and it is very cheap compared to Nafion,which provides a possible idea for the industrial production of IPMC.