Ionic Polymer Metal Composites as energy harvesters

The Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) is an Electroactive Polymer (EAP) capable of soft sensing as well as soft actuation under low driving voltage. Typically, the transduction model includes two resistors and two capacitors, which primarily accounts for the effective electrodes on the surface of the IPMC (top and bottom). There is a resistor placed between the two RC circuits to account for material between the electrodes and the resistance due to ion migration through the polymer matrix. In this paper we report our recent effort on IPMCs in connection with the application in energy harvesters. The experiments conducted use IPMC samples with various lengths, various widths and various thicknesses, and compare the charging rates of the different transducer sizes. The experimental results clearly indicate that IPMCs are attractive applicants for energy harvesting.