The synthesis of nano-scaled platinum particles (NSPP) - Their role in performance improvement of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) artificial muscles

In this work the synthesis of nano-scaled platinum particles by a chemical reducing technique within an ion-exchange membrane has been performed. It is desirable to gain a fundamental knowledge and understanding of the properties of small nano-scaled platinum particles within ion-exchange membranes, which can affect the performance of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) artificial muscles. In IPMC artificial muscle applications, the finite size of platinum particles is believed to strongly influence their properties. This might be related to a platinum surface effect originating from the electronic surface states of platinum particles that differ from the bulk states. In order to address this issue, we have attempted to synthesize small platinum particles having different size distributions by using protective agents. Further, we have characterized them as well. For IPMC artificial muscles, the presence of such nano-scale platinum particles minimizes the solvent-leakage from the surface electrodes. This in turn improves their performance dramatically. A successfully fabricated IPMC artificial muscle with nano-Platinum particles has shown a significantly improved force density as much as 100% than that of the conventional IPMC.