Carbide-derived carbon in polypyrrole changing the elastic modulus with a huge impact on actuation

Abstract

While carbide-derived carbon (CDC)-based materials have shown stable behavior in ionic electro-chemomechanical actuators, the displacement and actuation speed have remained low compared to conducting polymer-based actuators. The goal of this research was to obtain more responsive conducting polymer-CDC composite films and to investigate their linear actuation properties, comparing the stress and strain to those of polypyrrole (PPy) doped with dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS À ). The PPy-CDC hybrid films were synthesized electrochemically using polyoxometalate (POM) (phosphotungstic acid) to attach charge to the CDC particles for embedding them into the PPy matrix as secondary dopants in addition to DBS À . Cyclic voltammetry and square wave potential steps in electro-chemo-mechanical deformation (ECMD) measurements were performed in aqueous electrolyte solution, showing that the PPy-CDC hybrids had higher strain (12%) and stress (0.6 MPa) than the PPy/DBS films. The new composite was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy to evaluate the composition of these promising materials.

Inkjet‐printed hybrid conducting polymer-activated carbon aerogel linear actuators driven in an organic electrolyte

“…In earlier research, the corresponding decrease in stress on oxidation has been observed in carbide-derived-carbon-PPy hybrid actuators [31]. In the case of carbon-based ionic electromechanical actuators, this behavior has been explained by the two-carrier model, where after cation diffusion out of the material, a small number of anions enter the material, causing expansion [32].…”

Polypyrrole linear actuation tuned by phosphotungstic acid

“…During galvanostatic polymerization, the applied voltage reached the value of 2.2 V in the 2-electrode system [27]. It is notable that the addition of PTA results in lower synthesis potential in the range of 1.4 V [17].…”

“…Recent research has revealed that PTA was able to embed carbon particles (carbide-derived carbon) during electropolymerization forming PPy/DBS-CDC hybrids, which had increased maximum strain due to changing of the films elastic modulus [27]. The formation of PPy linear actuators (free-standing films) containing PTA as electrolyte has not been reported until now, mostly due to the extreme brittleness of these films.…”

Influence of solvent on linear polypyrrole–polyethylene oxide actuators

“…For each system, three samples were prepared and measured independently. The strips were connected to the force sensor (TRI202PAD, Panlab, Barcelona, Spain) with a fixed arm that served as a working electrode in a linear muscle analyzer set up . A platinum sheet was used as the counter electrode and Ag/AgCl (3 M KCl, +0.23 V vs SHE) as the reference electrode in the measurement cell containing 0.2 M solution of LiTFSI in water and propylene carbonate.…”