Electrochemomechanical constrained multiobjective optimization of PPy/MWCNT actuators

Abstract

Polypyrrole (PPy) conducting polymers have shown a great potential for the fabrication of conjugated polymer-based actuating devices. Consequently, they have been a key point in developing many advanced emerging applications such as biomedical devices and biomimetic robotics. When designing an actuator, taking all of the related decision variables, their roles and relationships into consideration is of pivotal importance to determine the actuator's final performance. Therefore, the central focus of this study is to develop an electrochemomechanical constrained multiobjective optimization model of a PPy/MWCNTs trilayer actuator. For this purpose, the objective functions are designed to capture the three main characteristics of these actuators, namely their tip vertical displacement, blocking force and response time. To obtain the optimum range of the designated decision variables within the feasible domain, a multiobjective optimization algorithm is applied while appropriate constraints are imposed. The optimum points form a Pareto surface on which they are consistently spread. The numerical results are presented; these results enable one to design an actuator with consideration to the desired output performances. For the experimental analysis, a multilayer bending-type actuator is fabricated, which is composed of a PVDF layer and two layers of PPy with an incorporated layer of multiwalled carbon nanotubes deposited on each side of the PVDF membrane. The numerical results are experimentally verified; in order to determine the performance of the fabricated actuator, its outputs are compared with a neat PPy actuator's experimental and numerical counterparts.

Spray-coated carbon nanotube carpets for creeping reduction of conducting polymer based artificial muscles

“…For instance, at low frequencies, 10 mHz actuation without CNTCs produce 1.5 mm larger displacement amplitude. The results are surprising because most of the previously reported composites with carbon nanomaterials were improving the performance of actuators at all frequencies [34,44,45]. Furthermore, CNTCs also reduce the electrical resistance of PEDOT:PSS electrodes from  W 5.1 3.7 k to  W 1.6 0.5 k .…”

“…Actuator performance was evaluated by tracking the displacement at its tip with the laser displacement sensor. The peak-to-peak displacement versus actuation frequency is shown in Figure 3A [44,45,34]. Furthermore, CNTCs also reduce the electrical resistance of PEDOT:PSS electrodes from 5.1 ± 3.7kΩ to 1.6 ± 0.5kΩ.…”

Artificial muscles driven by the cooperative actuation of electrochemical molecular machines. Persistent discrepancies and challenges

“…The concomitant physical and mathematical models have been profusely checked by experimental results and technological applications. The temptation is high to treat electro-chemo-mechanical devices as singular cases of electro-mechanical actuators driven by electric fields and described by adaptation of electro-mechanical physical models [36,56,[82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101].…”