ABSTRACT
This book covers advanced ionic polymeric nanocomposites as distributed nanosensors, nanotransducers, nanoactuators, and artificial muscles. As such, it is the first book of its kind to cover such revolutionary and futuristic advanced nanocomposites and smart materials. This book is a result of 15 years of research and development on advanced ionic polymeric nanocomposites. It essentially covers an introduction to ionic polymers, intelligent gels, and artificial muscles and goes on to cover
• ionic polymer-metal nanocomposite (IPMNC) artificial muscles: fundamentals
• manufacturing techniques for IPMNC artificial muscles • ionic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) chemoelectromechanical artificial mus-
cles/nanomuscles • PAMPS gel artificial muscles • modeling and simulation for IPMNCs as biomimetic distributed nanosen-
sors, nanoactuators, nanotransducers, and artificial muscles • sensing, transduction, feedback control, and robotic applications of arti-
ficial muscles • conductive polymers as artificial muscles • engineering, industrial, and medical applications of IPMNCs and smart
materials
Furthermore, note that as the demand for energy grows, the need for more efficient energy conversion devices increases. One area of improvement is the use of direct energy conversion processes and devices. Advanced ionic polymeric nanocomposites as discussed in this book present a tremendous potential for energy harvesting and are the foundation of current state-of-the-art devices to convert chemical or electrical energy into mechanical energy to perform useful work. In the field of sensing, devices equipped with IPMNCs can provide an efficient way of converting mechanical energy into electrical or chemical forms.
