Solvation-Driven Electrochemical Actuation

Solvation‐Driven Actuation of Anion‐Exchange Membranes

“…In fact, we failed to detect any significant influence of the counterions in the membrane on the peak tip displacement. As argued in the theoretical prediction and shown in our previous experiments with Nafion membranes, [ 33 ] the influence of the counterions is expected to be less prominent than that of anions in the external solution, such that it could be more easily concealed by experimental variability.…”

“…The increase in the variance of the response compared to the previous experiments with cation‐exchange membranes [ 33 ] is traceable to the in‐house manufacturing of the anion‐exchange membranes and to the smaller thickness compared to the commercial membranes used in Ref. [33]. The manufacturing process may have induced pre‐stresses in our membranes, whose effect was exacerbated by their small thickness.…”

“…We attribute the lack of significance of these tests to large variability in the peak tip displacement values of membranes. The increase in the variance of the response compared to the previous experiments with cation‐exchange membranes [ 33 ] is traceable to the in‐house manufacturing of the anion‐exchange membranes and to the smaller thickness compared to the commercial membranes used in Ref. [33].…”

A non-ideal solution theory for the mechanics and electrochemistry of charged membranes

“…The coupling between mechanics and electrochemistry has so far been mostly neglected by the literature on charged membranes. Only recently, a few efforts highlighted a significant effect of nonideal behavior of electrolyte solutions on membrane mechanics 20 , as well as counterintuitive consequences of including membrane deformations on the electrochemical response 23 . In this vein, it becomes critical to build a unifying, high-fidelity model of the interplay between mechanics and electrochemistry in charged membranes to inform their applications from cell physiology to energy storage and production devices.…”

“…Recent theoretical and experimental endeavors highlighted profound, unexpected interactions between the mechanics and electrochemistry of charged membranes, with broad implications on biological membranes and energy storage and production devices. On the one hand, the non-ideal behavior of the solution permeating charged membranes can significantly affect the membrane deformations 20 . Specifically, solvation, the interaction between solvent molecules and counterions 21,22 , can elicit macroscopic bending of charged membranes in electrolyte solutions.…”