The presented research introduces a new Ionic Polymer-Metal-ZnO Composite (IPMZC) demonstrating photoluminescence (PL)-quenching on mechanical bending or application of an electric field. The newly fabricated IPMZC integrates the optical properties of ZnO and the electroactive nature of Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMC) to enable a non-contact read-out of IPMC response. The electro-mechano-...

A bucky gel actuator is a novel electro-active polymer (EAP), which is a low-voltage-driven dry soft actuator. In addition, the bucky gel device generates electromotive force when bending and then it can also be used as a sensor. Its device has a bimorph structure with polymer-supported bucky gel electrodes and a polymersupported ionic gel electrolyte. It can be fabricated by layer-by-layer cas...

We explore the microfluidic generation of bubbles in a flow-focusing junction using a pressure-controlled device rather than the more common flow ratecontrolled devices. This device is a prototype for extending microfluidic drop generation methods to molten polymers. We show that the bubble generation process is highly sensitive to pressure: small changes in pressure induce large changes in bub...

This brief review of polymer-surfactant interaction opens by describing how polymers behave in solution. Then we survey the literature on the interaction of nonionic polymers with surfactants, and the interaction of polyelectrolytes with ionic surfactants of opposite charge. After a brief discussion of polymer adsorption at interfaces, we consider the implications of these interactions on the d...

Both shape memory and self-healing polymers have received significant attention from the materials science community. The former, for their application as actuators, self-deployable structures, medical devices; latter, extending lifetime of polymeric products. effects can be stimulated by heat, which makes resistive heating a practical approach to trigger these effects. Here we show conductive ...

Iron-filled magnetorheological polymers, when cured in the presence of a magnetic field, result in having a transversely isotropic structure with iron particles forming chains along the direction of applied magnetic induction. In this work, we model the magneto-viscoelastic deformation (and magnetization) process of such polymers. Components of the deformation gradient and the applied magnetic ...

— An IPMC composite is an electroactive material that behaves in an electric field similarly to biological muscles. This intelligent material is leading to a new emerging technology called non-uniformly charged IPMC actuators. This paper introduces first an IPMC analytical modeling approach for its electromechanical characterization. The model considers, for the first time, the action of gravit...

Specifically, we will show that polymer assemblies with a gradually increasing grafting density can be utilized to probe the “mushroom”-to-“bush” conformational transition in both neutral polymer brushes as well as weak surface-anchored polyelectrolytes. We will describe a method for generating polymer assemblies with a gradually changing molecular weight of the grafted polymers. A simple exten...