Reactive conducting polymers as actuating sensors and tactile muscles.
Films of conducting polymers when used as electrodes in an electrolytic solution oxidize and reduce under the flow of anodic and cathodic currents, respectively. The electrochemical reactions induce conformational movements of the chains, generation or destruction of free volume and interchange of ions and solvent with the electrolyte giving a gel that reacts, swells or shrinks. Electric pulses acting on reactive gels constituted by polymers, solvent and ions are the closest artificial materials to those that constitute actuating biological organs. The electrochemical reaction under the flow of a constant current promotes a progressive change of color, volume, porosity, stored charge and storage or release of ions. The reaction is kinetically controlled by the conformational movements or by the diffusion of counterions through the gel; it works under electrochemical equilibrium and defines, at any intermediate oxidation state, equilibrium potentials. Any variable (mechanical, chemical, optical, magnetic, etc) acting on the equilibrium will induce a change in the working potential of any device, driven by a constant current, based on this reaction; actuating-sensing devices based on the electrochemical properties are expected. Artificial muscles able to sense pushed weights, electrolyte concentration or ambient temperature during actuation are described. The activation energy of the reaction includes structural information and allows the obtention of the conformational energy, the heart of both actuating and sensing properties.