Microfabrication of conjugated polymer actuators on textiles and study of textile structures for scaling up the actuation

• Conjugated polymers have been developed over the last decade for applications as artificial muscle. These polymers can be synthesized on the conventional yarns to prepare actuators. When a single yarn is functionalized with such polymers, the isotonic generated strain is very low  (around 0.075%). In order to reach the early stages of commercialisation, especially in exo-skeleton devices, it is critical to amplify the actuation mechanism in both isometric force transfer and strain generation. In our previous study we showed that by using a 2´1 rib knitted fabric as a viscoelastic substrate, the generated strain enhances to 3%.However, viscoelastic properties of fabrics are determined not only by the constitutive operators of the fibers but also by the fabric pattern and its structures, which governs the fibre deformation. Here we have studied the actuation mechanism of polypyrrole on various fabric structures.Polyamide 6 and stretchable polyamide 6/PU fibers were used to knit the fabrics. Fabrics were pre-modified with tannic acid and bath sonicated for its stress relaxation. Then, they were dip-coated in PEDOT:PSS solution in order to achieve an electrode layer. Dynamic elastic behaviour of samples was measured before and after applying the seed layer. Further, electrochemical synthesis of polypyrrole on PEDOT:PSS was taken place by a 3-electrode electrochemical cell setup. A dual-mode muscle lever was used to characterize the textile actuators. The results show that the efficiency of actuation mechanism is determined by both viscoelastic properties and stress-relaxation time of textiles.

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