A model of ion transport in conjugated polymers

Abstract

Understanding ion transport in conjugated polymers is essential for developing mathematical models of applications of these materials. Previous experimental studies have suggested that cation transport in a conjugated polymer could be either diffsion or drift controlled, with debate over which dominates. In this paper we present a new model of cation transport that explains most of the features seen in a set of recent experiments. This model gives good agreement with measured concentration profiles, except when the profile has penetrated the polymer by more than 60%. The model shows that both diffusion and drift processes can be present. An application of a micro-actuator based on a conjugated polymer is presented to demonstrate that this technology could be used to develop a micro-pump. doi:10.1017/S1446181109000194