Morphology of electrodes and bending response of the polymer electrolyte actuator

In order to induce bending motion in a perfluorinated polymer electrolyte b y electric stimuli in water or saline solution, plating with metal is requi red. To fabricate electrodes, a perfluorocarboxylic acid membrane was soake d in Au(III) di-chloro phenanthroline complex solution, and then any adsorb ed Au(III) cation complex was reduced in aqueous sodium sulfite. Optimizing the motion response depends on control of the chemical plating procedure. By sequential adsorption / reduction cycling, a suitable pair of gold elect rodes with a fractal-like structure have been grown. This high interfacial area between the electrodes and polymer electrolyte leads to larger deforma tion. The measured deformation progressively improves with cycling. Displac ement rates were proportional to current. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.