Branshaw, Kimberly

Davis, Garrett

Deardorff, Dana

Jaggi, Faculty Advisor, Narendra K

Digital Commons @ Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 1994, 5th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 23rd, 9:00 AM - 4:00 PMPolyelectrolyte Gels as Artificial Muscle SystemsGarrett DavisIllinois Wesleyan UniversityKimberly BranshawIllinois Wesleyan UniversityDana DeardorffIllinois Wesleyan UniversityNarendra K. Jaggi, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Garrett Davis; Kimberly Branshaw; Dana Deardorff; and Narendra K. Jaggi, Faculty Advisor, "Polyelectrolyte Gels asArtificial Muscle Systems" (April 23, 1994). John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. Paper 25.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/1994/posters/25POLYELECTROLYTE GELS AS ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE SYSTEMS Garrett Davis, Kimberly Branshaw, Dana Deardorff, and Narendra K. Jaggf Physics Department, Illinois Wesleyan University During the last three years, electromotility of polyelectrolyte gels in ionic solutions has been aggressively pursued at Toyota and Ibaraki Univ. as potential futuristic chemomechanical engines. We have discovered that the underlying physics is much more complex than what has previously been believed, e.g. we find that bending as a function of time seems to obey a f·· power law, is inconsistent with the idea of a bending speed and strongly points toward a diffusion mechanism. Kinetic evidence of diffusion was confirmed by experiments on gels grown in the presence of dyes. We have explored the effect of varying poly-ion concentration in the backbone and in the surrounding medium. We have discovered that in some cases, the electromotility cannot be described as simple bending. We have also discovered a rich behaviour in the electrical conductivity of these complex materials. Unfortunately, this is not yet understood. Light scattering experiments are also under way. Acknowledgment: This research was supported in part by a grant ( # NAG-8-258) from NASA under the NASA/JOVE program 

Polyelectrolyte Gels as Artificial Muscle Systems

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Polyelectrolyte Gels as Artificial Muscle Systems

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