Experimentally validated improvement of IPMC performance through alternation of pretreatment and electroless plating processes

It has been known for years that polymers can be stimulated to change shapes and sizes. Electro-active polymers (EAPs) have recently been spotlighted in biomimetic applications due to the properties of energy transduction from the electrical to the mechanical form for actuation. Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are a type of ionic EAP and considered to be one of the most promising smart materials. IPMCs are light in weight, chemically stable, fast responding and can make large bending deformations under low driving voltages. This study focuses on the fabrication method and performance of IPMCs by using Nafion? films. Tip force optimization is determined by using the Taguchi design of experiment technique.