Biomedical Applications of Electroactive Polymer Actuators

Giving fundamental information on one of the most promising families of smart materials, electroactive polymers (EAP) this exciting new titles focuses on the several biomedical applications made possible by these types of materials and their related actuation technologies. Each chapter provides a description of the specific EAP material and device configuration used, material processing, device assembling and testing, along with a description of the biomedical application. Edited by well-respected academics in the field of electroactive polymers with contributions from renowned international experts, this is an excellent resource for industrial and academic research scientists, engineers, technicians and graduate students working with polymer actuators or in the fields of polymer science.

Table of Contents:
Preface. List of Contributors. Introduction. Polymer Gels. 1. Polymer Gel Actuators: Fundamentals (Paul Calvert). 1.1. Introduction and Historical Overview. 1.2. Properties of Gels. 1.3. Chemical and Physical Formation of Gels. 1.4. Actuation Methods. 1.5. Performance of Gels as Actuators. 1.6. Applications of Electroactive Gels. 1.7. Conclusions. References. 2. Bioresponsive Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications (Tom McDonald, Alison Patrick, Richard Williams, Brian G. Cousins and Rein V. Ulijn). 2.1. Introduction. 2.2. Chemical Hydrogels. 2.3. Physical Hydrogels. 2.4. Defining Bioresponsive Hydrogels. 2.5. Bioresponsive Chemical Hydrogels. 2.6. Bioresponsive Physical Hydrogels. 2.7. Electroactive Chemical Hydrogels. 2.8. Conclusion. References. 3. Stimuli-Responsive and 'Active' Polymers in Drug Delivery (Aram Omar Saeed, Johannes Pall MagnGBPsson, Beverley Twaites and Cameron Alexander). 3.1. Introduction. 3.2. Drug Delivery: Examples, Challenges and Opportunities for Polymers. 3.3. The emerging State of the Art Mechanisms In Polymer Controlled Release Systems. 3.4. Responsive or 'Smart' Polymers in Drug Delivery. 3.5. Recent Highlights of Actuated Polymers for Drug Delivery Applications. 3.6. Conclusions and Future Outlook. References. 4. Thermally Driven Hydrogel Actuator for Controllable Flow Rate Pump in Long-Term Drug Delivery (Piero Chiarelli and Pietro Ragni). 4.1. Introduction. 4.2. Materials and Methods. 4.3. Hydrogel Actuator. 4.4. Pump Functioning. 4.5. Conclusion. References. Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMC). 5. IPMC actuators: Fundamentals (Kinji Asaka and Keisuke Oguro). 5.1. Introduction. 5.2. Fabrications. 5.3. Measurement. 5.4. Performance of the IPMC Actuator. 5.5. Model. 5.6. Recent Developments. 5.7. Conclusion. References. 6. Active Micro-Catheter and Biomedical Soft Devices Based on IPMC Actuators (Kinji Asaka and Keisuke Oguro). 6.1. Introduction. 6.2. Fabrication of the IPMC Device. 6.3. Applications to Micro-Catheter. 6.4. Other Applications. 6.5. Conclusions. References. 7. Implantable Heart-Assist and Compression Devices Employing Active Network of Electrically-Controllable Ionic Polymeric Metal Nanocomposites (Mohsen Shahinpoor). 7.1. Introduction. 7.2. Heart Failure. 7.3. Background of IPMNCs. 7.4. Three-Dimensional Fabrication of IPMNCs. 7.5. Electrically-Induced Robotic Actuation. 7.6. Distributed Nanosensing and Transduction. 7.7. Modeling and Simulation. 7.8. Application of IPMNCs to Heart Compression and Assist In General. 7.9. Manufacturing of Thick IPMC Fingers. 7.10. Conclusions. References. 8. IPMC Based Tactile Displays for Pressure and Texture Presentation on a Human Finger (Masashi Konyo and Satoshi Tadokoro). 8.1. Introduction. 8.2. IPMC actuators as a Tactile Stimulator. 8.3. Wearable Tactile Display. 8.4. Selective Stimulation Method for Tactile Synthesis. 8.5. Texture Synthesis Method. 8.6. Display Method for Pressure Sensation. 8.7. Display method for roughness sensation. 8.8. Display method for friction sensation. 8.9. Synthesis of total textural feeling. 8.10. Conclusions. References. 9. IPMC Assisted Infusion Micropumps (Il-Seok Park, Sonia Vohnout, Mark Banister, Sangki Lee, Sang-Mun Kim and Kwang J. Kim). 9.1. Introduction. 9.2. Background of IPMC. 9.3. Miniature Disposable Infusion IPMC Micropumps. 9.4. Modeling for IPMC Micropumps. 9.5. Conclusions. References. Conjugated Polymers. 10. Conjugated Polymer Actuators: Fundamentals (Geoffrey M. Spinks, Gursel Alici, Scott McGovern, Binbin Xi and Gordon G. Wallace). 10.1. Introduction. 10.2. Molecular Mechanisms of Actuation in ICPs. 10.3. Comparison of Actuation Performance in Various ICPs. 10.4. Electrochemistry of ICPs. 10.5. Effect of Composition, Geometry and Electrolyte on Actuation of PPy. 10.6. Mechanical System Response. 10.7. Device Design and Optimization. 10.8. Future Prospects. References. 11. Steerable Catheters (Tina Shoa, John D. Madden, Nigel R. Munce and Victor X. D. Yang). 11.1. Introduction. 11.2. Catheters: History And Current Applications. 11.3. Catheter Design Challenges. 11.4. Active Steerable Catheters. 11.5. Discussion and Conclusion. References. 12. Microfabricated Conjugated Polymer Actuators for Microvalves, Cell Biology and Microrobotics (Elisabeth Smela). 12.1. Introduction. 12.2. Actuator Background. 12.3. Microfabrication. 12.4. Single Hinge Bilayer Devices: Flaps and Lids. 12.5. Multi-Bilayer Devices: Positioning Tools. 12.6. Swelling Film Devices: Valves. 12.7. Lifetime. 12.8. Integrated systems. 12.9. Conclusions. References. 13. Actuated Pins for Braille Displays (Geoffrey M. Spinks and Gordon G. Wallace). 13.1. Introduction. 13.2. Requirements for Electronic Braille screen. 13.3. Mechanical Analysis of Actuators Operating against Springs. 13.4. Polypyrrole Actuators for Electronic Braille Pins. 13.5. Other Polymer Actuation Systems for Electronic Braille Pins. 13.6. Summary. Acknowledgements. References. 14. Nanostructured Conducting Polymer Biomaterials and Their Applications in Controlled Drug Delivery (Mohammad Reza Abidian and David C. Martin). 14.1. Introduction. 14.2. Nanostructured Conducting Polymers. 14.3. Conducting Polymer Nanotubes for Controlled Drug Delivery. 14.4. Conclusions. Acknowledgements. References. 15. Integrated Oral Drug Delivery System with Valve Based on Polypyrrole (Thorsten Gottsche and Stefan Haeberle). 15.1. Introduction. 15.2. System Concept. 15.3. Osmotic Pressure Pump. 15.4. Polypyrrole in Actuator Applications. 15.5. Valve Concepts Evaluated in the Course of the Intellidrug Project. 15.6. Total assembly and Clinical Testing of the Intellidrug System. Acknowledgements. References. Piezoelectric and Electrostrictive Polymers. 16. Piezoelectric and Electrostrictive Polymer Actuators: Fundamentals (Zhimin Li and Zhongyang Cheng). 16.1. Introduction. 16.2. Fundamentals of Electromechanical Materials. 16.3. Materials Properties related to Electromechanical Applications. 16.4. Typical Electromechanical Polymers and Their Properties. 16.5. Conclusion Remarks. References. 17. Miniature High Frequency Focused Ultrasonic Transducers for Minimally Invasive Imaging Procedures (Aaron Fleischman, Sushma Srivanas, Chaitanya Chandrana and Shuvo Roy). 17.1. Introduction. 17.2. Coronary Imaging Needs. 17.3. High Resolution Ultrasonic Transducers. 17.4. Fabrication Techniques. 17.5. Testing Methods. 17.6. Results. 17.7. Conclusion. References. 18. Catheters for Thrombosis Sample in Blood Vessels Using Piezoelectric Polymer Fibers (Yoshiro Tajitsu). 18.1. Introduction. 18.2. Piezoelectricity of Polymer Film and Fiber. 18.3. Simple Measurement Method for Bending Motion of Piezoelectric Polymer Fiber. 18.4. Piezoelectric Motion of PLLA Fiber. 18.5. Elementary Demonstration of Prototype System for Catheters Using Piezoelectric Polymer Fiber. 18.6. Summary. References. 19. Piezoelectric Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) in Biomedical Ultrasound Exposimetry (Gerald R. Harris). 19.1. Introduction. 19.2. Needle Hydrophone Design. 19.3. Spot-Poled Membrane Hydrophone Design. 19.4. Application to Diagnostic Ultrasound. 19.5. Application to Therapeutic Ultrasound. 19.6. Conclusion. References. Dielectric Elastomers. 20. Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: Fundamentals (Roy Kornbluh, Richard Heydt and Ron Pelrine). 20.1. Introduction. 20.2. Basic Principle of Operation. 20.3. Dielectric Elastomer Materials. 20.4. Transducer Designs and Configurations. 20.5. Operational Considerations. References. 21. Biomedical Applications of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (John S. Bashkin, Roy Kornbluh, Harsha Prahlad and Annjoe Wong-Foy). 21.1. Introduction. 21.2. UMA-Based Actuators and Their Application to Pumps. 21.3. Mechanical Stimulation Using Thickness-Mode Actuation. 21.4. Implantable Artificial Diaphragm Muscle. 21.5. Implantable Artificial Facial Muscles. 21.6. Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics. 21.7. Mechanical Actuation for 'Active' Cell Culture Assays. 21.8. Conclusions. References. 22. MRI Compatible Device for Robotic Assisted Interventions to Prostate Cancer (Jean-Sebastien Plante, Lauren Devita, Kenjiro Tadakuma and Steven Dubowsky). 22.1. Introduction. 22.2. Prostate Cancer Therapy. 22.3. Elastically Averaged Parallel Manipulator Using Dielectric Elastomer Actuators. 22.4. Results. 22.5. Conclusions. Acknowledgements. References. 23. A Braille Display System for the Visually Disabled Using a Polymer Based Soft Actuator (Hyouk Ryeol Choi, Ig Mo Koo, Kwangmok Jung, Se-gon Roh, Ja Choon Koo, Jae-do Nam and Young Kwan Lee). 23.1. Introduction. 23.2. Fundamentals on Actuation Principle. 23.3. Design of Tactile Display Device. 23.4. Braille Display System. 23.5. Advanced Applications. 23.6. Conclusions. References. 24. Dynamic Splint-Like Hand Orthosis For Finger Rehabilitation (Federico Carpi, Andrea Mannini and Danilo De Rossi). 24.1. Introduction. 24.2. Passive Dynamic Hand Splints: State of the Art. 24.3. Active Dynamic Hand Splints: State of the Art. 24.4. Proposed Concept: Dynamic Splint Equipped with Dielectric Elastomer Actuators. 24.5. Splint Mechanics. 24.6. Dimensioning of the Actuators. 24.7. Prototype Splint. 24.8. Performances of the Prototype Splint. 24.9. Future Developments. 24.10. Conclusions. References. Index.

About the Author :
Dr. Ing. Federico Carpi is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdepartmental Research Center, E. Piaggio, at the University of Pisa (Italy). He gained his degree and PhD at the University of Pisa. His main research interests include the design, the study, the development, the fabrication and the characterization of innovative electromechanical devices based on electroactive polymer (EAP) materials. Dr. Carpi is also founder and co-coordinator for the European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles. Elisabeth Smela is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland (USA). She received her BS in physics from MIT and completed her PhD in electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in 1992. She then worked at Linköping University in Sweden and at Riso National Lab in Denmark developing microfabricated conjugated polymer devices. In 1999 she joined the start-up company Santa Fe Science and Technology in New Mexico as Vice President of Research and Development. She joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland in September 2000. She was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2004 for research in dielectric elastomer actuators for microrobotics. She also received the DuPont Young Professor Award in 2003, the engineering school's Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty in 2004, and the university's Outstanding Invention of 2004. Her research interests are in polymer MEMS and bioMEMS, and more generally in combining organic materials with conventional inorganic materials to make new micro-scale devices.