Selective growth of platinum electrodes for MDOF IPMC actuators

Abstract

The selective growth technique of platinum electrodes for ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators with multiple degree-of-freedoms (MDOFs) was developed to smoothly mimic a fish-like locomotion. Firstly, after electroless plating is simultaneously applied to all electrode patches. electroplating is selectively conducted on certain electrode patches to improve the performance of the patterned IPMC actuators This. technique is very useful for controlling the thickness of each electrode patch and for tailoring the stiffness and the flexibility of IPMC actuators. To verify the effect of the selective growth of platinum electrodes, the patterned IPMC actuators were tested in terms of surface resistance, platinum morphology, tip displacements, and blocking force. Experimental tests of the frequency response function and free vibration were conducted for obtaining the natural frequency and the damping factor of the actuators. The present results show that the MDOF IPMC actuator with selectively grown multiple electrodes can implement the bio-mimetic bending and twisting motion with much higher natural frequency and lower damping factor. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.