Electrical activation of artificial muscles containing polyacrylonitrile gel fibers

Gel fibers made from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) are known to elongate and contract when immersed in caustic and acidic solutions, respectively. The amount of contraction for these pH-activated fibers is 50% or greater, and the strength of these fibers is shown to be comparable to that of human muscle. Despite these attributes, the need of strong acids and bases for actuation has limited the use of PAN gel fibers as linear actuators or artificial muscles. Increasing the conductivity by depositing platinum on the fibers or combining the fibers with graphite fibers has allowed for electrical activation of artificial muscles containing gel fibers when placed in an electrochemical cell. The electrolysis of water in such a cell produces hydrogen ions at an artificial muscle anode, thus locally decreasing the pH and causing the muscle to contract. Reversing the electric field allows the PAN muscle to elongate. A greater than 40% contraction in artificial muscle length in less than 10 min is observed when it is placed as an electrode in a 10 mM NaCl electrolyte solution and connected to a 10 V power supply. These results indicate potential in developing electrically activated PAN muscles and linear actuators, which would be much more applicable than chemically activated muscles.