A comparison study of ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) fabricated with Nafion and other ion exchange membranes

Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) have been and still are one of the best candidates with great potential to be used as actuators and sensors particularly in bioengineering where the environmental conditions are in an aqueous medium. Each component of an IPMC is important. However, the ion exchange membrane should be more emphasized because it is where ions migrate when electrical stimulation is applied and eventually it produces deformation of the IPMC. So far, the most commonly used ion exchange membrane is Nafion and many studies have been conducted with it for IPMC applications. There are a number of other commercially available ion exchange membranes now, but only a few studies have been done on those membranes to be used in IPMC applications. In this study, four commercially available membranes, (1) Nafion N115 (DuPont), (2) CMI7000S (Membranes International Inc.), (3) F-14100 (fumatech), (4) GEFC-700 (Golden Energy Fuel Cell) were selected and fabricated in IPMCs and their potentials as actuators were examined by conducting various characterizations such as water uptake, ion exchange capacity, SEM, DSC, blocking force and bending displacement.

离子聚合物 - 金属复合材料（IPMCs）一直是并且仍然是最具潜力的最佳候选材料之一，可用作致动器和传感器，特别是在生物工程领域，其环境条件处于水介质中。IPMC的每个组成部分都很重要。然而，应该更加强调离子交换膜，因为当施加电刺激时离子在其中迁移，并最终使IPMC产生变形。到目前为止，最常用的离子交换膜是Nafion，并且已经针对IPMC应用对其进行了许多研究。现在还有许多其他市售的离子交换膜，但针对那些用于IPMC应用的膜只进行了少数研究。在这项研究中，选择了四种市售膜，（1）Nafion N115（杜邦），（2）CMI7000S（国际膜公司），（3）F - 14100（fumatech），（4）GEFC - 700（金色能源燃料电池），并将它们制成IPMC，通过进行各种表征，如水吸收、离子交换容量、扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、差示扫描量热法（DSC）、阻塞力和弯曲位移，来检测它们作为致动器的潜力。