Modeling and simulation of the bending behavior of electrically-stimulated cantilevered hydrogels

A systematic development of a chemo-electro-mechanical continuum model-for the application of electrically-stimulated cantilevered hydrogels-and its numerical implementation are presented in this work. The governing equations are derived within the framework of the continuum mechanics of mixtures. The finite element method is then utilized for the numerical treatment of the model. For the numerical simulation a cantilevered strip of an anionic hydrogel immersed in a NaCl solution bath is considered. An electric field is applied to electrically stimulate the aforementioned hydrogel. The application of the electric field alters the initial concentrations of the ionic species due to the chemo-electrical coupling. The gradual increase in the applied electric field leads to the bending movement of the hydrogel. Concluding, the presented multi-field continuum model is capable of simulating hydrogel bending actuators and also more complex systems e.g. gel finger grippers.