An experimental set-up for the study of electromechanical properties of conducting polymer films

Abstract An experimental set-up have been designed and fabricated to study the electromechanical properties of a thick film of conducting polymer under load. Extension of the films versus voltage has been measured in terms of change in capacitance of parallel plate capacitor constituted by metal pan and a fixed metal plate. HP 4284A impedance analyzer measures absolute value of the capacitance. Change in capacitance is related to change in distance by pre-calibrating the assembly using traveling microscope. A computer programme is developed to convert the capacitance value with the corresponding distance and simultaneously plotting the graph between changes in length of polymer film versus applied voltage. The assembly has been used to study the electrochemomechanical behavior of solution cast polyaniline films (∼50 μ thick). During first cycle the length is enhanced by about 6% of original value, while repetitive value of extension is ≅2.8%, in subsequent cycles. This value closely matches to that reported in literatures.