Flash welded polyaniline nanofiber actuator

POLY 514

Christina O. Baker, cbaker@chem.ucla.edu1, Brian Shedd2, Philip G. Whitten3, Gordon G Wallace, gordon_wallace@uow.edu.au3, and Richard B. Kaner, kaner@chem.ucla.edu1. (1) Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Drive East, Box 951569, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (2) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, 48-121 Engineering IV, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (3) Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and ARC Centre for Nanostructured Electromaterials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Polyaniline and other conducting polymers have shown promise in actuator devices for more than a decade. Processability difficulties and adhesion have been among the major difficulties with bi-layer actuators utilizing polyaniline as the active material. Polyaniline nanofibers that are flash welded on one side with a camera flash to create an asymmetric membrane overcome these difficulties easily to make a chemically responsive nanofiber film actuator. The reaction mechanism of these actuators is unique to the flash welded polyaniline film due to the simultaneous cross-linking and melting of the flash exposed side of the film causing both density and chemical reactivity variation. Rapid response and recovery time of the flash welded nanofiber films can be attributed to the high surface area and small feature size of the more chemically active non-welded nanofiber side of the film.
 

Nanoparticles and Microparticles: Synthesis and Applications
6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Tuesday, 12 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster

Division of Polymer Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006