Development of a Flexible Conductive Polymer Membrane on Electroactive Hydrogel Microfibers
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Development of a Flexible Conductive Polymer Membrane on Electroactive Hydrogel Microfibers Maria Bassil1,2, Michael Ibrahim1,4, Eddy Souaid1, Georges El Haj Moussa1, Mario El Tahchi1, Gisèle Boiteux2, Joël Davenas2, Senentxu Lanceros-Mendez3, and Joseph Farah1 1
LPA-GBMI, Department of Physics, Lebanese University -Faculty of Sciences II, P.O. Box 90656 Jdeidet, Lebanon, email: [email protected], Tel: +961 3 209688, Fax: +961 1 681553. 2 Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France ; Universités Lyon 1, IMP/LMPB Laboratoire des Matériaux Polymères et Biomatériaux, Bat ISTIL, 43 bd du 11 Novembre, Villeurbanne, F-69622, France ; CNRS, UMR5223, Ingénierie des Matériaux Polymères, Villeurbanne, F-69621, France, email: Joel.Davenas@ univ-lyon1.fr. 3 Department of Physics, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal, email: [email protected]. 4 LMI - University of Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 bd du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne, France.
ABSTRACT Conducting polymers and hydrogels are two classes of polymers that currently receive an increasing attention in the field of biomaterials, particularly for their application in the assembly of artificial muscles. In this paper we present the development of Polyacrylamide (PAAM) microfibers and polyaniline (PANI) - poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) conductive gel membrane. The fabricated PAAM microfibers have diameters between 1 and 12µm depending on the preparation parameters. These microfibers respond instantaneously to 100mV electrical stimulation, which solves the problem of time response of the hydrogels. On the other hand, we showed that the inclusion of conducting chains within a crosslinked gel matrix allows combining the conductivity of the PANI with the mechanical flexibility of PVA in order to provide flexible gel membranes that can adhere to the PAAM microfibers to ensure their electrical stimulation. INTRODUCTION Polyacrylamide (PAAM) hydrogel is a wet and soft material resembling to the tissue of living organism and presents remarkable stimuli response [1-4]. In addition, it is biocompatible and not biodegradable [5-6]. Recently, we have presented a new artificial muscle design [7-9] based on this hydrogel. This electro-bio-active device consists on fiber like elements of hydrolyzed PAAM, working in parallel, embedded in a thin conducting gel membrane that plays the role of electrodes [9]. The first step in realizing the design is achieved by the production of PAAM microfibers. The influence of surface properties on the rate of shrinking of hydrogel microfibers was studied. It is shown that the geometrical distribution of microfibers influences their response to electrical and chemical stimuli. While the number of microfibers placed in parallel increases, the rate of shrinkage decreases but it stays much higher than that of bulky gel [10]. The second step is the development of the gel membrane that holds the electroactive hydrogel microfibers together. In fact, the main task in artificial muscle development is the control of the volumetric changes [9]
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