Preparation Of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite And Research On Its Structure And Property

Ionic polymer metal composite(IPMC) is an electroactive material, composing of ionic exchange polymer and metal-electrodes plated on both faces, the IPMC actuators have many merit including simple structure, low driving voltage, large deformation as well as light weight. Nowdays, almost all of the IPMC have used perfluorinated ionomeric membranes. But most of the available perfluorinated ionomeric membranes have a typical thickness and higher price, which limit the applications of IPMC. According to these, our research focus on a new ionic polymer used for IPMC matrix rather than perfluorinated ionic membranes itself.In this thesis, EVOH-g-SO₃K was synthesized by sulfonification of EVOH with 1, 3-propane sultone and then modified by TDI to get a cross-linked ionomer(EVOH-g-TSO₃K), finally the IPMC based on EVOH-g-TSO₃K was prepared through the method of chemical deposition.The preparation process, chemical structure and molecule microstructure of EVOH-g-SO₃K and EVOH-g-TSO₃K were studied by infrared spectroscopy(IR), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and atomic force microscope(AFM), respectively. Moreover, the other properties of the ionomer were also investigated. The results indicate that EVOH-g-TSO₃K was synthesized with the reaction between EVOH-g-SO₃K and TDI. The sulfonation degree(ds) of EVOH-g-TSO₃K increase with the molar ratio of 1, 3-propane sultone and hydroxyl group(rs), and the ds is about 13.43～50.2%; The water mass fraction determined by thermogravimetric analysis(TG) is 32.8% in EVOH-g-TSO₃K, which is approximate to its water absorption(30.9%). What is more, there are some ionic clusters in EVOH-g-TSO₃K film and the diameter is about 10～30nm.The research work on IPMC electrode structure and its preparation process was done, and the electro-deformation performance of IPMC was also studied according to influence factors such as sulfonation degree, different counter ions and applied voltage. The results show that the IPMC electrode thickness is about 13.23μm,24.16μm,28.14μm with the chemical deposition times of one, two and three, the electrode become more compact and even when through more time chemical depositions. According to X-ray energy dispersive measurement, the continuous sulphur content in IPMC with ds of 27.62%, 23.36% and 19.42% was got, is approximately 15.82%, 7.89%, 3.54%, separately. When the applied voltage change from 1V to 6V, the maximum tip displacement of IPMC increases from 9.92mm to 45.11mm, it is in inverse proportion with voltage frequency. The maximum tip displacement of IPMC with different counter ions is in the following order: IPMC-Liï¹¥IPMC-Naï¹¥IPMC-Kï¹¥IPMC-H.Our work presented here a new IPMC based on EVOH-g-TSO₃K ionomer that demonstrates dynamic actuation under applied electrical stimulus, but its electro-deformation need to be improved in the future study.