Cellulose based electro-active papers: performance and environmental effects

Abstract

Electro-active paper (EAPap) is attractive as an electro-active polymer (EAP) actuatormaterial due to its low weight, dry condition, large displacement output, lowactuation voltage and low power consumption and biodegradability. EAPap is madefrom cellulose. Cellulose fibre is dissolved into a solution and made into a sheet,then thin electrodes are deposited on the cellulose paper to make an EAPapactuator. The performance of EAPap actuators was evaluated in terms of tipdisplacement, blocking force and electrical power consumption. The maximum tipdisplacement of 4.3 mm was obtained from a 40 mm long EAPap actuator when0.25 kV mm−1 was applied. This actuation voltage is quite low compared with other electronic EAPmaterials. The effect of the environment in terms of humidity and temperature wasalso investigated. When the relative humidity was increased up to 95%, the tipdisplacement increased. When the temperature was increased the displacementslowly increased and then gradually decreased after the temperature reached30 °C. These measurements were performed under a variety of environmental and input factorsincluding frequency, actuation voltage, temperature and humidity.