Ionic EAP Actuators with Electrodes Based on Carbon Nanomaterials.

Flexible polymer-based actuators, often also called artificial muscles, are an essential part of biomimetic systems that mimic the movement principles of animal world creatures. The most used electrode material to force the actuator move is an ensemble of noble metal nanoparticles in the electroactive polymer surface. Noble metal electrodes have enough electrical conductivity and elasticity and are not subjected to oxidation.

Multiphysics Simulator for the IPMC Actuator: Mathematical Model, Finite Difference Scheme, Fast Numerical Algorithm, and Verification.

The article is devoted to the development and creation of a multiphysics simulator that can, on the one hand, simulate the most significant physical processes in the IPMC actuator, and on the other hand, unlike commercial products such as COMSOL, can use computing resources economically. The developed mathematical model is an adjoint differential equation describing the transport of charged particles and water molecules in the ion-exchange membrane, the electrostatic field inside, and the mechanical deformation of the actuator. The distribution of the electrostatic potential in the interelectrode space is located by means of the solution of the Poisson equation with the Dirichlet boundary conditions, where the charge density is a function of the concentration of cations inside the membrane.