• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.144-151
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• 2003

IPMC(Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) is promising candidate material for bio-related actuators mainly due to its biocompatibility and wet and soft properties. The widely used commercialized Nafion film has a few kinds of fixed thicknesses but more various film thicknesses are required for extensive applications. Especially for the enhanced force as an actuator, the thick film is essential. Various Nafion films with thickness of 0.4-1.2mm have been prepared by casting of liquid Nafion. Also, IPMC actuators using casted Nafion films have been fabricated and the basic mechanical properties such as stiffness, displacement and force were measured and analyzed. These results can be used for the optimized design of actuators for different applications.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.273-277
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• 2002

Ultra-thin polymer films containing cobalt(II) meso-tetraphenylporphyrin(CoTPP) have been prepared by vacuum codeposition of the metal complex and trans-2-butene as an organic monomer using an inductively coupled RF glow discharge operating at 7-9 Watts. The polymer films were characterized by sorption measurements. Sorption data obtained for polymer films containing CoTPP indicate that the CoTPP molecules are capable of reversibly binding oxygen molecules. It was found that the adjacent CoTPP molecules in the aggregated metal complex phase could irreversibly share the oxygen molecules. A dispersion of the metal complex molecules in the polymer matrix was made to maintain the reversible reactivity of the metal complex molecules with oxygen in the polymer films via vacuum evaporation process. The Henry mode solubility constant, the Langmuir mode capacity constant, the amount of binding oxygen, and the dissociation equilibrium in the dual mode sorption theory were discussed.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.599-605
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• 2012

The physicochemical properties such as surface hardness, solvent mechanical wear resistance, and resistance to scratch properties of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) thin film prepared by vapor phase polymerization (VPP) was effectively improved by post-treatment of various metal alkoxide sol solutions. Metal oxide layer derived from sol-gel process of metal alkoxide was generated on the PEDOT thin film layer by VPP, resulting in improving mechanical properties of the conductive thin films without any deterioration of their original surface resistance. Several kinds of silicone and titanium alkoxide derivatives with various functional groups were used as metal alkoxide sol sources. Among them, PEDOT-metal oxide composite thin film derived tetraethyl orthosilicate showed the best performance in the terms of surface resistance, transmittance, and various physicochemical properties. The effect of metal alkoxide content in washing solution, oxidant content and drying temperature have been investigated in order to optimize the various properties of PEDOT-metal oxide composite thin film.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.401-407
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• 2016

IPMC is composed of thin ion conductive polymer film sandwiched between metallic electrodes plated on both surfaces. Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) generates voltages when bent by mechanical stimuli. IPMC has a potential for the variety of energy harvesting applications due to its soft and hydrophilic characteristics. However, the large-scale implementation is necessary to increase the output power. In this paper, the scale-up of surface area effect on voltage generation characteristics of IPMC was investigated using IPMC samples with different surface areas. Also, a circuit model simulating both the output voltage and its offset variations was designed for estimating the voltages from IPMC samples. The proposed model simulated the output voltages with offsets well corresponding to various frequencies of input bending motion. However, some samples showed that the increase of error between real and simulated voltages with time due to the nonlinear characteristic of offset variations.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.137-140
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• 2006

In order to overcome the weak actuation and relaxation problems during the deformation of IPMC actuator, polymeric anion (polystyrenesulfonate)-doped polypyrrole(Ppy(PSS)) was electrodeposited onto IPMC actuator. Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance study showed that hydrated cations were instilled into Ppy(PSS) film and polymeric-anion dopants introduced during polymerization were not expelled. Ppy(PSS)-coated IPMC actuator formed two electrode/electrolyte interfaces, Pt/nafion and Ppy(PSS)/bulk solution, and additive volume expansion phenomena at interfaces induced the large deformation compensating the relaxation of actuation by back diffusion of water.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.211-215
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• 2007

Hybrid thin film nanostructures composed of metal nanoparticles (NPs) and self-assembled polymer films with different spatial distributions of NPs were analyzed by optical waveguide spectroscopy (OWS). Specifically, the dielectric constants were calculated using effective medium theory for the incorporation of 1 vol% Au NP into the block copolymer (BCP) films having a cylindrical nanodomain morphology. Three cases were considered: uniform distribution of NPs in the film; selective distribution of NPs only in the cylindrical domains; and segregation of NPs to the center of the cylindrical domains. The optical waveguide spectra derived from the calculated dielectric constants demonstrate the feasibility of experimentally distinguishing the composite nanostructures with different inner morphologies in the hybrid metal NP-BCP nanostructures, by the measurement of the dielectric constants using OWS.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.110-114
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• 2011

Polymeric films of high chemical stability and mechanical strength covered with a thin metallic film have been extensively used in various fields as electric and electronic materials. In this study, we have chosen polypropylene (PP) as the polymer due to its outstanding chemical resistance and good creep resistance. We coated thin nickel film on PP films by the electroless plating process. The surfaces of PP films were pre-treated and modified to increase the adhesion strength of metal layer on PP films, prior to the plating process, by an environment-friendly process with atmospheric plasma generated using dielectric barrier discharges in air. The surface morphologies of the PP films were observed before and after the surface modification process using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The static contact angles were measured with deionized water droplets. The cross-sectional images of the PP films coated with thin metal film were taken with SEM to see the combined state between metallic and PP films. The adhesion strength of the metallic thin films on the PP films was confirmed by the thermal shock test and the cross-cutting and peel test. In conclusion, we made a composite material of metallic and polymeric films of high adhesion strength.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.360-366
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• 2013

For conventional electrical actuators, the materials are mainly made up of metals, which mean they are prone to corrosion and electrical sparking. Replacing these systems with polymer metal composite based materials can be solved both problems. Considering their excellent electromechanical property, low device fabrication cost, light weight, and good electrical conductivity, the actuator based on ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) was fabricated using Nafion film, NaOH 0.1 molar solution, and Au electrode. IPMCs exhibit good electrostatic property which means they can in principle be used in making actuators based on electromechanical motions. The resistance measurements of Nafion film after soaking in NaOH and deionized water were demonstrated and compared each other. The result of sample soaked in NaOH showed better electrical conductivity than in deionized water. The fabricated IPMC actuator exhibits a large deformation of bending displacement of approximately 9 mm with applied low AC voltage 6.89 V at 2.84 Hz. The result of computer simulation was also very similar and shown as a bending displacement of 8.6085 mm.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.298-304
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• 2003

IPMC(Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite) is a highly sensitive actuator that shows a large deformation in presence of low applied voltage. Generally, IPMC can be fabricated by electroless plating of platinum on both sides of a Nafion (perfluorosulfonic acid) film. When a commercial Nafion film is used as a base structure of the IPMC membrane, the micro-pump structure and the IPMC membrane are fabricated separately and then later assembled, which makes the fabrication inefficient. Therefore, fabrication of an IPMC membrane and the micro-pump structure on a single wafer without the need of assembly have been developed. The silicon wafer was partially etched to hold liquid Nafion to be casted and a 60-${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thick IPMC membrane was realized. IPMC membranes with various size were fabricated by casting and they showed 4-2${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ displacements from $4mm{\times}4mm$ , $6mm{\times}6mm$, $8mm{\times}8mm$ membranes at the applied voltage ranging from 2Vp-p to 5Vp-p at 0.5Hz. The displacement of the fabricated IPMC membranes is fairly proportional to the membrane area and the applied voltage.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.455-463
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• 2002

Ionic Polymer metal composite(IPMC), one of new actuation materials of EAPs is fabricated by electroless plating of platinum on both sides of the perfluorosulfonic acid film or Nafion film and its electromechanical characteristics are investigated. The IPMC strip bends towards anode under electrical field. As the number of plating cycle increases, the distance between plated platinum electrodes on both sides of Nafion membrane decreases and also the displacement is almost inversely proportional to the number of plating. The displacement of IPMC strip depends on voltage magnitude and applied signal frequency and its maximum deformation is observed at a critical frequency, resonant frequency. Low pressure sandblasting is used for surface treatment of Nafion membrane and at 8 times of plating cycle produced actuator with high displacement performance. For more efficiency of fabricated IPMC, it is useful to add one or two surface developing step which is the second reduction process using hydrazine.