Voltage attenuation along the electrodes of ionic polymer metal composites

In this note, we study voltage attenuation along the electrodes of an ionic polymer metal composite. We conduct a series of experiments on an in-house fabricated Nafion-based ionic polymer metal composite, subject to different voltage inputs. We adapt a recently proposed physics-based distributed circuit model to elucidate voltage attenuation as a function of the distance along the ionic polymer metal composite and the frequency of the voltage input. The parameters of the distributed circuit model, including surface resistances and through-the-thickness impedance, are identified through independent experiments. Theoretical predictions are in good agreement with experimental observations, demonstrating the potential of the model to inform the design of sensors, actuators, and energy harvesters. Our results indicate that voltage attenuation is controlled by electric parameters associated with the electrode composition and morphology, which can both be adjusted during fabrication.