A NOVEL FABRICATION METHOD FOR A BIO-ACTUATOR BASED ON IONIC METAL-POLEYMER COMPOSITE

In this paper, a novel method for fabrication of an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) bio-actuator is developed. IPMC is a kind of smart material that can work as sensor and actuator in wet environment and liquids. It works in low voltage, and show a large bending under a weak electrical field. So it is a promising actuator for bio applications. Poor adhesion between electrodes and polymer and peeling-off phenomena are common problems in IPMC fabrication. These problems are solved by roughening and doing plasma treatment on polymer surfaces and using a thin layer of sputtered Ti as an adhesion layer for gold electrodes. Sputtering method is used to deposit gold electrodes on Nafion polymer. Also NaOH is used for cation exchange within the polymer matrix. By using this method, a good adhesion between gold electrodes and polymer is achieved. These achievements resulted in good electrodes conductivity and wide range of displacement under different voltages in wet condition.

Keywords:

IPMC , Sputtering deposition method , Gold electrode , Nafion