© 2012 Chen et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite Artificial Muscles in Bio-Inspired Engineering Research: ...

Recently, terms such as sustainable, bio-based, biodegradable, non-toxic, or environment-benign are being found in the literature, suggesting an increase green materials for various applications future, particularly packaging application. The unavoidable shift from conventional polymers to is difficult, most bio-sourced not water-resistant. Nonetheless, Shellac, a water-resistant resin secreted...

Chip based bio/chemical analysis relies on networks of fluidic channels that are connected to reaction chambers and sensors. For sensitive detection it is important to scale down the size of the channels so that they approach the relevant length scales of the molecules of interest. Here we have made sealed channels on the 100 nm scale using nanoimprinting to pattern the sacrificial polymer poly...

Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) based phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes (pc-LEDs) are limited by the low MHP stability under storage/operation conditions. A few works have recently stablished in-situ synthesis of MHPs into polymer matrices as an effective strategy to enhance with a low-cost fabrication. However, this is within petrochemical-based polymers. Herein, first ambient preparati...

We present an energetically autonomous robotic tadpole that uses a single membrane component for both electrical energy generation and propulsive actuation. The coupling of this small bio-inspired power source to a bio-inspired actuator demonstrates the first generation design for an energetically autonomous swimming robot comprised of a single membrane. An ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) ...

Limitations of cylindrical carbon nanotubes based on the buckminsterfullerene structure as delivery vehicles for therapeutic agents include their chemical inertness, sharp edges and toxicological concerns. As an alternative, we have developed lignin-based nanotubes synthesized in a sacrificial template of commercially available alumina membranes. Lignin is a complex phenolic plant cell wall pol...

The current examples of natural-fiber based polymer composites, because of their biobased and biodegradable properties, offer an alternative as a ‘green’ material available for automotive and other engineering applications. However such composites suffer from low strength and fatigue properties compared to the carbonor glass-fiber based polymer composites. Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), a new typ...

Polymer-clay nanocomposites are a well known class of hybrid materials with enhanced functional and structural properties. In particular bio-nanocomposites, which result from the interactions of biopolymers and inorganic solids with dimensions in the nanometric scale, are receiving increasing attention due to their potential as ecological, biocompatible and economically viable high performance ...

Conjugated polymers are promising actuation materials for bio/micromanipulation systems, biomimetic robots, and biomedical devices. For these applications, it is highly desirable to have predictive models available for feasibility study and design optimization. In this paper a scalable model is presented for trilayer conjugated polymer actuators based on J. Madden's diffusive-elastic-metal mode...

The current breed of natural-fiber based polymer composites, because of their biobased and possibly biodegradable nature, offer an alternative as a ‘green’ material available for automotive and other engineering applications. However such composites suffer from the drawback of low strength and fatigue properties compared to the carbonor glass-fiber based polymer composites. Cellulose nanofibers...