In this paper, an in-depth analysis of IPMC (ionic polymer metal composite) as sensors is performed, motivated by application to flapping wing micro air vehicles. The effect of water uptake for different IPMC samples reveals a correlation between IPMC metal content and water uptake. The effect of introducing a mass to the end of High-frequency IPMC (HFI ∼ 20.9 Hz) sensor shows an improvement in the IPMC sensing behavior, whereas, for the Low-frequency IPMC (LFI ∼ 8.9 Hz) sensor, there is a reverse trend. Gold (Au) coating on an HFI sensor results in a decrease in resonant frequency. Different mass loaded on the Au coated HFI beams reveals that the pre-bending by adding end mass to HFI sensor is beneficial up to a specific mass level, after which the sensing voltage decreases. The optimized mass loading for the Au coated HFI is determined. © The Author(s) 2020.