NANOFABRICATION OF CONDUCTING POLYMER-BASED ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE

John D. Madden, Tanya Kanigan, Peter Madden and Ian W. Hunter
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 3-147, Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

Conducting polymer-based actuators generate twenty times the force for a given cross-sectional area as mammalian skeletal muscle. Furthermore, rates of strain are similar to or higher than those of skeletal muscle. By miniaturization and appropriate material processing conducting polymer actuators are expected to generate more than 100 times the force per cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle, and at kilohertz frequencies. The same materials, namely conducting polymers, are also employed to fabricate transistors, as well as displacement and force transducers.

This paper presents research demonstrating the high force per cross-sectional area produced by conducting polymer actuators, and the high achievable strain rates. A novel nano-fabrication method based on local electrodeposition using a scanning probe is introduced. The method is to be employed to nano-fabricate actuators, force and displacement transducers and transistors, all composed to conducting polymer, to form an artificial reflex loop.