Evaluation of Ionic Polymer-Conductive Layer Composite based Energy Harvesting Material in an Aqueous Environment

Abstract

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) generate electric energy when subjected to various mechanical stimuli. Among EAPs, Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) has been applied to a wide variety of environmental conditions for the purpose of energy harvesting. IPMC consists of an ion conductive membrane plated with metallic electrodes on both surfaces. Since IPMC is soft and hydrophilic, it has the potential to be applied to ocean wave energy harvesting. However the fabrication cost of IPMC is relatively high, as platinum is usually used as the electrode material and the electrode plating procedure is complex, resulting in the difficulties of large scale implementation in energy harvesting applications. In this paper, a cost effective fabrication method for energy harvesting film, using the ion conductive film, Nafion® and Carbon Nano Tube (CNT)-graphene based conductive paste as the electrode material, is presented. The energy generation characteristics of the fabricated Ionic Polymer-Conductive Layer Composite (IPCLC) was tested and compared with the performance of Pt electrode based IPMC using a wave simulator. The results reveal that the energy generated using IPCLC is about 60% that generated using IPMC.