An actuating system composed of nafion ionomeric polymer coated with single-walled carbon nanotubes electrodes was studied as an electromechanical actuator. The actuator gives a sizable mechanical response to low voltages (turn-on voltage of approximately 2.5 V) under open-air conditions, i.e., in the absence of a surrounding supporting electrolyte. The actuator is active under both dc and ac b...

A model is formulated to describe the dynamics of electro-wetting-induced transport of liquid droplets. The velocity of droplet transport as a function of actuation voltage is derived. The operating parameters include the viscosity of the droplet and the medium through which it actuates, contact-line friction, system geometry, and surface tension. Numerical coefficients are extracted from exper...

A novel MEMS resonator employing “capacitance-shaping” principle to generate sinusoidal signals is proposed. FEM simulations are done to study the structure. Preliminary characterizations on devices fabricated through SOI-MUMPS are carried-out to study the frequency tuning of the resonator by electrostatic actuation. Variants of the proposed structure are presented. Second order dynamical model...

The important role of the nanostructure of conductive network composite (CNC) layers on the performance of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) transducer has been discussed detailedly. IPMC transducers exhibit both electromechanical and mechanoelectrical behaviors. When subjected to an external electric field, electromechanical behavior of IPMC transducers causes an actuation response which ca...

In this study, analytical techniques and fuzzy logic methods are applied to the dynamic modelling and efficient swimming control of a biomimetic robotic fish, which is actuated by an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC). A physical-based model for the biomimetic robotic fish is proposed. The model incorporates both the hydrodynamics of the IPMC tail and the actuation dynamics of the IPMC. The c...

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The uniqueness of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices, with their multiphysics characteristics, presents some limitations to the borrowed test methods from traditional integrated circuits (IC) manufacturing. Although some improvements have been performed, this specific area still lags behind when compared to the design and manufacturing competencies developed over the last decades by t...

An ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) consisting of a thin perfluorinated ionomer (usually, Nafion or Flemion) strip, platinum, and/or gold plated on both faces and neutralized by a certain amount of appropriate cations undergoes large bending motion when, in a hydrated state, a small electric field is applied across its thickness. When the same membrane is suddenly bent, a small voltage of t...

NASA is seeking to reduce the mass, size, consumed power, and cost of the instrumentation used in its future missions. An important element of many instruments and devices is the actuation mechanism and electroactive polymers offer an effective alternative to current actuators. In this study, two families of electroactive polymer (EAP) materials were investigated, including bending ionomers and...