Investigation into the actuating properties of ionic polymer metal composites using various electrolytes

With an increasing trend of ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) applied in marine system surrounding with abundant K+ and Na+ ions, efforts of IPMC with different electrolytes on actuating properties were investigated. In this paper, different IPMC were prepared using Li+, Na+, and K+ as the electrolyte cations and water, ionic liquid, and ethylene glycol as the electrolyte solvent. Actuating parameters were measured based on a customized experimental setup under dynamic voltage and dynamic frequency. Results showed that electrolyte solvent can affect the working life cycle and displacement of IPMC under dynamic voltage and frequency signal, whereas the electrolyte cations can only influence the actuating properties under dynamic voltage. An initial increase in the strain rate of all IPMC samples was discovered following a decrease. Furthermore, it is visible from the results analysis that each group of IPMC had a constant solvent absorption content, although they obtained different contents of electrolyte solvent and cations. Moreover, a principle was observed in the voltage tolerance of IPMC with Li+, Na+, and K+ as increasing atomic weigh of electrolyte cations. In addition, a relationship between actuating properties and electrolytes was illuminated in this paper.