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In this paper we present a physics-based model for the electrochemical response of ionic liquid-ionic polymer transducers (IPTs) and show how the mobile ionic liquid ions influence the charging characteristics and actuation performance of a device. It is assumed that a certain fraction of the ionic liquid ions exist as “free,” making for a total of 3 mobile ions. This leads to predictions of distinctly different charging characteristics for ionic liquid versus water-based IPTs, since for the latter there is only a single mobile ion. The large ionic liquid ions are modeled by including steric effects in a set of modified Nernst-Planck/Poisson equations, and the resulting system of equations is solved using the method of matched asymptotic expansions (MAE). The inclusion of steric effects allows for a realistic description of boundary layer composition near actuator operating voltages (~1 V). Analytical expressions for the charge transferred and differential capacitance are derived as a function of the frac...

Ionic polymer transducers (IPTs), also known as ionic polymer-metal composites, are soft sensors and actuators which operate through a coupling of microscale chemical, electrical, and mechanical interactions. The use of an ionic liquid as solvent for an IPT has been shown to dramatically increase transducer lifetime in free-air use, while also allowing for higher applied voltages without electrolysis. In this work, we apply Nernst-Planck/Poisson theory to model charge transport in an ionic liquid IPT by considering a certain fraction of the ionic liquid ions as mobile charge carriers, a phenomenon which is unique to ionic liquid IPTs compared to their water-based counterparts. Numerical simulations are performed using the finite element method to examine how the introduction of another pair of mobile ions affects boundary layer charge dynamics, concentration, and charge density distributions in the electric double layer, and the overall charge transferred and current response of the IPT. Due to interactions with the Nafion ionomer, not all of the ionic liquid ions will function as mobile charge carriers; only a certain fraction will exist as “free” ions. The presence of mobile ionic liquid ions in the transducer will increase the overall charge transferred when a voltage is applied, and cause the current in the transducer to decay more slowly. The additional mobile ions also cause the ionic concentration profiles to exhibit a nonlinear dynamic response, characterized by nonmonotonic ionic concentration profiles in space and time. Although the presence of mobile ionic liquid ions increases the overall amount of charge transferred, this additional charge transfer occurs in a somewhat symmetric manner. Therefore, the additional charge transferred due to the ionic liquid ions does not greatly increase the net bending moment of the transducer; in fact, it is possible that ionic liquid ion movement actually decreases the observed bending response. This suggests that an optimal electromechanical conversion efficiency for bending actuation is achieved by using an ionic liquid where only a relatively small fraction of the ionic liquid ions exist as free ions. Conversely, if it is desired to increase the overall amount of charge transferred, an ionic liquid with a large fraction of free ions should be used. These theoretical considerations are found to be in good qualitative agreement with recent experimental results.