Tetsuya Horiuchi

Influence of Ambient Humidity on the Voltage Response of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Sensor.

Electrical potential based on ion migration exists not only in natural systems but also in ionic polymer materials. In order to investigate the influence of ambient humidity on voltage response, classical Au-Nafion IPMC was chosen as the reference sample. Voltage response under a bending deformation was measured in two ways: first, continuous measurement of voltage response in the process of absorption and desorption of water to study the tendency of voltage variation at all water states; second, measurements at multiple fixed ambient humidity levels to characterize the process of voltage response quantitatively. Ambient humidity influences the voltage response mainly by varying water content in ionic polymer. Under a step bending, the amplitude of initial voltage peak first increases and then decreases as the ambient humidity and the inherent water content decrease. This tendency is explained semiquantitatively by mass storage capacity related to the stretchable state of the Nafion polymer network. Following the initial peak, the voltage shows a slow decay to a steady state, which is first characterized in this paper. The relative voltage decay during the steady state always decreases as the ambient humidity is lowered. It is ascribed to progressive increase of the ratio between the water molecules in the cation hydration shell to the free water. Under sinusoidal mechanical bending excitation in the range of 0.1-10 Hz, the voltage magnitude increases with frequency at high ambient humidity but decreases with frequency at low ambient humidity. The relationship is mainly controlled by the voltage decay effect and the response speed.

Multi-physical model of cation and water transport in ionic polymer-metal composite sensors

Ion-migration based electrical potential widely exists not only in natural systems but also in ionic polymer materials. We presented a multi-physical model and investigated the transport process of cation and water of ionic polymer-metal composites based on our thorough understanding on the ionic sensing mechanisms in this paper. The whole transport process was depicted by transport equations concerning convection flux under the total pressure gradient, electrical migration by the built-in electrical field, and the inter-coupling effect between cation and water. With numerical analysis, the influence of critical material parameters, the elastic modulus Ewet, the hydraulic permeability coefficient K, the diffusion coefficient of cation dII and water dWW, and the drag coefficient of water ndW, on the distribution of cation and water was investigated. It was obtained how these parameters correlate to the voltage characteristics (both magnitude and response speed) under a step bending. Additionally, it was fo...

The effect of ambient humidity on the electrical response of ion-migration-based polymer sensor with various cations

A water-based ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) sensor, induced by ion migration, is a promising alternative to natural sensing systems. Focusing on water effects, this paper investigated the voltage responses of Au-Nafion IPMC at multiple fixed levels of ambient humidity under a small step bending deformation. The voltage includes two processes: a fast rising and a subsequent slow decay. As the relative ambient humidity decreases, the peak voltage first increases and then decreases because the mass storage capacity of IPMC, related to the compressed state of a polymer network, reaches the optimum at a moderate water content (30 ~ 90%RH), whereas the proportion of decay related to hydration effect decreases as the level of relative humidity is decreased. The detailed physics has been revealed qualitatively based on transport theory, and a fitting equation has been proposed to approximate the general electrical response.

Voltage-controlled accommodating IOL system using an ion polymer metal composite actuator

Surgeons treat cataracts by replacing the clouded lens with an intraocular lens (IOL), but patients are required to wear reading glasses for tasks requiring near vision. We suggest a new voltage-controlled accommodating IOL made of an ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuator to change focus. An in vitro experiment was conducted where an actuator was placed inside the eye and moved with applied voltage. The lens attached to the actuator was deformed by its movement to change the patients focus. The results showed that this system can accommodate a change of approximately 0.8 diopters under an applied voltage of ± 1.3 V.

A multi-physical model for charge and mass transport in a flexible ionic polymer sensor

An ionic polymer material can generate electrical potential and function as a bio-sensor under a non-uniform deformation. Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is a typical flexible ionic polymer sensor material. A multi-physical sensing model is presented at first based on the same physical equations in the physical model for IPMC actuator we obtained before. Under an applied bending deformation, water and cation migrate to the direction of outside electrode immediately. Redistribution of cations causes an electrical potential difference between two electrodes. The cation migration is strongly restrained by the generated electrical potential. And the migrated cations will move back to the inner electrode under the concentration diffusion effect and lead to a relaxation of electrical potential. In the whole sensing process, transport and redistribution of charge and mass are revealed along the thickness direction by numerical analysis. The sensing process is a revised physical process of the actuation, however, the transport properties are quite different from those of the later. And the effective dielectric constant of IPMC, which is related to the morphology of the electrode-ionic polymer interface, is proved to have little relation with the sensing amplitude. All the conclusions are significant for ionic polymer sensing material design.

Effects of cation on electrical responses of ionic polymer-metal composite sensors at various ambient humidities

In this study, we investigated the effects of various cations on the electrical responses of ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) sensors at various ambient humidities. Four typical Au–Nafion IPMC samples were prepared with H+, Li+, Na+, and K+ cations. The voltage and current responses of the IPMCs were investigated under static and dynamic bending displacements. The orders of the voltage and current amplitudes were generally Li+ > Na+ > K+ > H+ and depended on the cation transport properties and the water content. The static voltage response first increased to a peak and then slowly decreased to a steady state. A negative steady-state voltage was initially observed for the IPMC with H+ cations under near saturation conditions. The voltage amplitude increased monotonously with increasing frequency from 0.1 to 10 Hz at a high relative humidity (RH, ∼90%), first increased and then decreased at moderate humidity (RH, ∼50%), and decreased continuously at low humidity (RH, ∼20%). The static current response f...