Electrochemical actuators are physical or chemical devices?

What is it about?

Actuators, also named artificial muscles, are being theoretically described as devices driven by physical processes (piezoelectric, electrostrictive, electrostatic, electroosmotic, electrophoretic...) from the beginning of the past century. From the nineties of the past century conducting polymers, carbon nanotubes, graphenes and other organic electroactive materials have been incorporated to this technology. Engineers have tried to use the well known and tested electromechanical (physical) models to describe them. Alternatively new theoretical models based on the driven electrochemical reactions (electro-chemo-mechanical) try to describe both the mechanical aspects (movement rate, strain, position...) and the simultaneous ability of the device to sense thermal, chemical or mechanical working conditions. Discrepancies and challenges are presented.

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Why is it important?

The question is if life and life functions can be described by physical models of if a quantitative description of life functions and malfunctions require the development of new bioreplicating materials supporting new chemical models including the variation of the conformational or allosteric energy during the reaction.

Perspectives