Design for optimized electromechanical transduction in ionic polymer transducers fabricated with architecturally controlled ionomers

Ionic polymer transducers (IPT) are devices composed of ionomeric membranes, high surface area electrodes, and ion-conducting electrolytes that are capable of electromechanical transduction. This study aims to optimize the interactions between all three of these components to design a high performance IPT with novel ionomers. Equivalent circuit modeling of impedance data allowed for estimations of IPT capacitance due to changes in the compositions of the electrodes. Various methods for control of electrolyte uptake resulted in a range of ionic conductivity when combined with novel ionomers that vary in polymer backbone architecture and charge content. Although the ionic liquid was found to dominate the magnitude of the conductivity, the pathway for uptake was significant in determination of the overall maximum values. Combination of these optimized parameters for capacitance and ionic conductivity identified design criteria for potentially high performance IPTs to investigate the benefits of these novel ionomers in electroactive devices.