EAPSI: Development of an artificial electric organ using smart materials

Phamduy Paul T, Brooklyn NY

Investigators

Abstract

Populations of electric eel or weakly electric fish may often face man-made dangers or natural disasters like water pollution, tropical cyclones, or oil spills. The use of electrical impulses using stationary devices has been shown to be an effective method to influence their behavior. An alternative approach to steer live electric eels away from danger may involve self-controlled biologically-inspired robots signaling electrical impulses. This project will focus on understanding the feasibility of such an approach. This research project will be conducted in collaboration with Dr. Il-Kwon Oh at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, who specializes in the areas of smart materials, artificial muscles, and biomimetic devices. Specifically, this project will explore artificial electric organs based on smart materials. Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) and high-power graphene micro-supercapacitors will be investigated. This research seeks to utilize such smart materials to replicate the high voltage pulses seen in electric eels. As an electromechanical analogy to the function of ion pumps in stacked electrocytes, the IPMC sheets stacked in parallel charged using a battery can simulate the buildup of electrical potential. Alternatively, a graphene micro-supercapacitor sandwiching an electrolytic gel between graphene-coated planar structures may also pull the ions apart when charged. Further, electrical characterization tests on electric eels will be conducted for comparison. A custom data-acquisition device will record the electrical discharges of an electric eel to obtain a high-resolution reference for the artificial electric organ. This project will contribute to build a biomimetic robotic eel for the application in animal behavior research on electric eels. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the National Research Foundation of Korea.