Executive Summary : | Soft robots fabricated with soft and deformable materials have emerged as advanced robotic platforms due to their excellent adaptability and compliance for targeting new applications in medical science, disaster management, exploration and surveillance missions, industrial and social activities. Recently, ionic electroactive polymer (iEAPs) actuators composed of ionic polymers films sandwiched between two flexible electrodes have received considerable interest in soft robotics because of their high deformability, good performance, low-voltage functioning ( 3V), and low-cost fabrication. However, some of the current challenges are low blocking force, low energy density, and relatively low electromechanical transduction efficiency, which limit their further applications as actuators in soft robotics. The project provides aims to bridge this gap by designing and fabricating high-performance i-EAPs actuators based on hybrid ionic electroactive polymers (H-iEAPs) that will be designed through a confined ion strategy. In contrast to the conventional iEAPs, ILs in H-iEAPs will be confined on the surface of inorganic particles through hydrogen (H)-bonding interactions in the polymer matrix which is expected to (i) lower the ion dissociation energy of the ion pairs due to the tailored strong interactions between inorganic fillers and only one of the ions thus facilitating the movement of the counter ions under the external potential of a few volts; (ii) increase in the dielectric constant; (iii) tailored mechanical properties. All these synergetic effects in H-iEAPs will enhance the actuation performance of H-iEAPs actuators which are the major shortcomings of the previous research works. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis (trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMIM+][TFSI-]) and silica nano/microparticles are initial choices for polymer, ILs, and inorganic fillers. Other compatible combinations of polymer, ILs, and inorganic filler will be tested. Our primary experimental results have shown that silica microparticles embedded iEAP thin films exhibited a two-fold increase in actuation displacement and blocking force compared to pristine iEAPs. In the first phase, H-iEAPs with tailored mechanical and electrical properties wil be fabricated targeting new or advanced science aimed to be generated. Thereafter, H-iEAPs soft actuators will be fabricated through spray printing technique and will be tested for the determination of various actuation parameters including actuation strain, blocking force, energy density, efficiency. Thereafter, fabrication will be optimized to develop high-performance H-iEAPs soft actuators. The proposed work will be carried out at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, India. Post successful device realization, H-iEAPs soft actuators will be explored for developing a micro/centimeter-sized soft-legged robot (lab-scale prototype) capable of locomotion. |