Morphology of electrodes and bending response of the polymer electrolyte actuator

In order to induce bending motion in a perfluorinated polymer electrolyte by electric stimuli in water or saline solution, plating with metal is required. To fabricate electrodes, a perfluorocarboxylic acid membrane was soaked in Au(III) di-chloro phenanthroline complex solution, and then any adsorbed 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 electrodes with a fractal-like structure have been grown. This high interfacial area between the electrodes and polymer electrolyte leads to larger deformation. The measured deformation progressively improves with cycling. Displacement rates were proportional to current. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.