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Ion Gels for Ionic Polymer Actuators

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Abstract

Ionic polymer actuators are driven by the migration or diffusion of ions and generally exhibit significant deformation (i.e., bending) under low-voltage (<5 V) applications. However, the durability of conventional ionic polymer actuators decreases under open atmosphere owing to the evaporation of solvents, which are essential for the movement of ions, from the actuators. In order to overcome this drawback, ionic polymer actuators that can be operated under open atmosphere and even under vacuum are being developed using ionic liquids (ILs). Combining macromolecules with ILs as additives can result in highly ion-conducting polymer electrolytes (ion gels) suitable for applications in ionic polymer actuators. However, the contribution of polymeric materials to the high performance of IL-based polymer actuators is yet to be elucidated. In this chapter, IL-based polymer electrolytes comprising block copolymers and polyimides are demonstrated to enable easily processable ionic polymer actuators with high performance and durability. The displacement response is also analyzed using our proposed displacement model.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (No. 438–19016014 and No.452-17073009) and Basic Research A (No. 23245046) from the MEXT of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Yokohama National University, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501, Japan

    Masayoshi Watanabe, Satoru Imaizumi & Hisashi Kokubo

  2. Cooperative Research and Development Center, Yokohama National University, Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, 240-8501, Japan

    Tomohiro Yasuda

Authors
  1. Masayoshi Watanabe
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  2. Satoru Imaizumi
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  3. Tomohiro Yasuda
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  4. Hisashi Kokubo
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Correspondence to Masayoshi Watanabe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Osaka, Japan

    Kinji Asaka

  2. University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Japan

    Hidenori Okuzaki

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Watanabe, M., Imaizumi, S., Yasuda, T., Kokubo, H. (2014). Ion Gels for Ionic Polymer Actuators. In: Asaka, K., Okuzaki, H. (eds) Soft Actuators. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54767-9_10

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