Microstructure effects on proton conductivity in EVOH based ionic polymer-metal composites actuator

摘要

The ionomer of sulfonated ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymers (EVOH) modified by poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) (EVOH-g-SPEG) has been synthesized by the following process, EVOH was grafted by PEG through the Williamson reaction and sulfonic groups were introduced onto the end of PEG side chain by the open ring reaction of 1,3-propane sultone and the hydroxyl groups in EVOH. The crystalline structure and phase images of EVOH-g-SPEG membrane were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscope (AFM), and the ion conductivity is measured by a.c. impedance. XRD indicates that the water in EVOH-g-SPEG membrane region could destroy the membrane crystalline structure and the water absorption membranes are nearly amorphous. AFM phase images of the hydration membranes clearly show the hydrophilic domains, with sizes increasing from 10 to 35 nm as a function of the side chain length and the phase inversion could also be observed when n≥5 (n, numbers of grafting PEG side chain), which was consistent with a rapid increasing in water absorption. The a.c. impedance tests indicate that the comb-like EVOH-g-SPEG grafting with 2 PEG side chain provides the highest ionic conductivity (1.65×10-3Scm-1). Moreover, the tip displacement and the bending stress of ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC) prepared by electroless deposition of argentum were gained by electro-deformation tests. Its results show that the tip bending stress increased with the increasing input voltage and reached to its maximum under the applied voltage of 3.6V~4.4V. IPMC based on the EVOH-g-SPEG membrane exhibits higher bending stress with its maximum value of 6.20MPa.