HOW IONIC LIQUIDS CAN AFFECT THE NANOSTRUCTURE OF FLUORINATED-BASED PIEZORESISTIVE POLYMER COMPOSITES

Smart materials, defined as materials with the ability to change their properties through the application of external physical stimuli and with high functionality in simplified structures, are gaining increasing interest to act as sensors and actuators. In this context, smart materials based on electroactive polymers have emerged as particularly attractive candidates and research in the area has been essentially focused on the development of actuators based on ionic electroactive polymer composites, allowing much larger deformations at a lower voltage than piezoelectric actuators. In particular, on the development of ionic liquid-based ionic electroactive polymers, obtained through the inclusion of ionic liquids (ILs) into the polymer matrix. ILs are salts, usually composed by an organic cation and an organic/inorganic anion. The interaction between the matrix and the ILs, and its impact on the final characteristics are not properly understood yet. Thus, several questions are still open and they need to be well-investigated. For instance, which is the influence of the matrix on the final structural organization? How does the composition affect the morphology? In order to answer all of them, the idea here is to propose SANS experiments, in two hybrid materials at different compositions with different structure.