Role of Polyoxometalate Contents in Polypyrrole: Linear Actuation and Energy Storage.

A combination of polyoxometalates with polypyrrole is introduced in this work. Our goal was to include phosphotungstic acid (PTA) in different molar concentrations (0.005, 0.

The Use of Laminates of Commercially Available Fabrics for Anti-Stab Body-Armor.

Modern personal protective armor has been generally based on the Kevlar fabrics, with the main goal to offer defense against bullets. In addition to the high cost and poor processability, Kevlar has the disadvantage of limited stab-proofing capability. On the other hand, a large number of crimes involving deadly injures represent knife attacks.

Concept of an artificial muscle design on polypyrrole nanofiber scaffolds.

Here we present the synthesis and characterization of two new conducting materials having a high electro-chemo-mechanical activity for possible applications as artificial muscles or soft smart actuators in biomimetic structures. Glucose-gelatin nanofiber scaffolds (CFS) were coated with polypyrrole (PPy) first by chemical polymerization followed by electrochemical polymerization doped with dodecylbenzensulfonate (DBS-) forming CFS-PPy/DBS films, or with trifluoromethanesulfonate (CF3SO3-, TF) giving CFS-PPy/TF films. The composition, electronic and ionic conductivity of the materials were determined using different techniques.

Hardware and Software Development for Isotonic Strain and Isometric Stress Measurements of Linear Ionic Actuators.

An inseparable part of ionic actuator characterization is a set of adequate measurement devices. Due to significant limitations of available commercial systems, in-house setups are often employed. The main objective of this work was to develop a software solution for running isotonic and isometric experiments on a hardware setup consisting of a potentiostat, a linear displacement actuator, a force sensor, and a voltmeter for measuring the force signal.

Electrochemomechanical Behavior of Polypyrrole-Coated Nanofiber Scaffolds in Cell Culture Medium.

Glucose-gelatin nanofiber scaffolds were made conductive and electroactive by chemical (conductive fiber scaffolds, CFS) and additionally electrochemical polypyrrole deposition (doped with triflouromethanesulfonate CFSO, CFS-PPyTF). Both materials were investigated in their linear actuation properties in cell culture medium (CCM), as they could be potential electro-mechanically activated cell growth substrates. Independent of the deposition conditions, both materials showed relatively stable cation-driven actuation in CCM, based on the flux of mainly Na ions from CCM.

Comparative Analysis of Fluorinated Anions for Polypyrrole Linear Actuator Electrolytes.

Either as salts or room temperature ionic liquids, fluorinated anion-based electrolytes have been a common choice for ionic electroactive polymer actuators, both linear and bending. In the present work, propylene carbonate solutions of four electrolytes of the three hugely popular anions-triflouromethanesulfonate, bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide, and hexafluorophosphate were compared and evaluated in polypyrrole linear actuators. The actuation direction, the characteristics-performance relations influence the behavior of the actuators.